lying on the ground
by Unfortunately Unknown
Summary: This universe of pokemon is horribly, wonderfully, realistic. Alex doesn't belong in the world she's found herself in, but with the help of a pokemon known as Yarrow she might survive living in it.
1. Chapter 1

A young girl was lying on the ground, half crushed beneath a truck. Her brown hair was spread on the ground, her glasses broken, and her blood pooled around her.

She hadn't run in front of the truck, she had merely been standing at the edge of the sidewalk when it swerved. An unlucky accident, nothing more.

The girl opened her eyes, and saw only darkness. She shivered, and whispered softly, "I….I don't want to die."

"Normally, I would ignore that. However, there is a place for you, if you accept it." Said a young, male child who had suddenly appeared in front of her.

She jumped, and made a small squeaking noise.

"Who are you? What do you mean?" she asked, her voice quavering a bit.

"I am the guardian. As for what I mean…there is a place, in another world, where you would fit. You could live there, if you wished." He answered before flashing her a cute, little boy smile.

"I'll go." She said, having made up her mind the moment he offered it. "I mean, if I can't go home…."

He shook his head.

"No, you can't go back. Your body is dead there."

She nodded, she had thought that. But then another thought struck her.

"What about where I'm going? Why can I have a body there?" she asked curiously.

He smiled. It was so rare to find halfway intelligent people…

"There is a person there who has a body much like yours, however, her mind has left."

He did not explain how the other girl's mind left, and she didn't ask. She had a feeling she didn't want to know.

"Okay, well, can you tell me anything about this place?" she asked, curious now she had decided she would not be harmed.

"You know of stories people have written, shows on 'TV' and so on. They can tell you they 'just thought up the idea', but the truth is, they are simply more sensitive than normal humans. They can feel when another world goes past, and they can see it, how it works. Sometimes they can see it clearly, sometimes not. Sometimes they write about it, but mostly not. As for the place I'm sending you…I believe they called it 'Pokemon'?"

She stood still, accepting all this information, and then nodded.

"Okay, well, the Pokemon world must be easy to live in…" she murmured, half to make herself feel better. She didn't really like the idea of living somewhere where there were creatures who could breath fire, and poison, and more.

He smiled, and it had a mischievous edge to it.

"Don't be so sure."

She opened her mouth to ask him what he meant, but before she could say anything she was hit with an impact that knocked the breath out of her. Her eyes closed instinctively.

She opened her eyes after a few breaths, and gasped in surprise. She didn't know where she was, but she could see stars above her, in the sky.

She realized she was lying down, and slowly sat up, not used to the feel of the body she was in. She felt something in her hand, something cold, hard, and smooth. After feeling it for a bit, she decided it must be a pokeball, which meant whoever had been in this body before her had been a pokemon trainer.

She shivered. It was nighttime, and she was cold. She only seemed to be wearing jeans and a short-sleeved shirt.

She stood up, tried to take a step and fell over. She tried to catch herself with her hands, but they skidded, and her face hit the ground.

After a few moments she sat up, and spat dirt out of her mouth. She licked her lips, which stung, and tasted blood.

Perfect, she thought bitterly, this was just the way to enter my new life.

Then, after exploring a bit on all fours, she sighed, and decided the place where she had been before was probably the best place to stay.

She lay on the ground and tried to fall asleep, but ended up merely thinking about things (like how uncomfortable the ground was, and if she just had a blanket…) until there was enough light to see by.

She winced as she stood up carefully. Her lip hurt, she was sore and cold, and hungry, and really confused. If this was being a pokemon trainer, she didn't want it.

She sighed, and pushed her glasses, then froze.

Idiot, she said to herself, as she had just realized this new body had glasses. She hadn't realized before, as she was so used to pushing up her own glasses whenever they fell down

She pulled the glasses off and looked at them. They were round, oval shaped frames, and dark brown in color. Nothing special, though the lenses were thinner than she was used to.

She put the glasses back on, and looked at herself. Her shirt was yellow, her jeans blue. The shirt had a small red flower on it, but nothing more.

She reached back and found her hair was medium length, and, when pulling a lock of it in front of her face, found that it was brown.

She also noticed a pouch on her hip, and after assessing where she was (a small patch of dirt with very high grass all around) took it off and opened it.

Inside there appeared to be what was some form of money, three hard, blue berries, and one paper card.

After looking at the money, which seemed very strange to her, and poking at the berries, the girl pulled out the card and read:

Pokemon Trainer Alexandra Wood

Rank: Beginner

Badges: None

It all looked typed, but not fancy whatsoever. Obviously, no one cared much about this trainer, which made the girl very relieved. She had time to figure everything out; she would bet no one paid attention to little rookie trainers.

She then looked at the ground where she had slept, at the pokeball she had had in her hand, and sighed.

Before I do anything else, she thought, I need to think. First, I can't be called by my old name, it would be too strange, and people would notice me. I have to go by this one. Alexandra. Not the best, but at least I can shorten it to Alex.

The newly named Alex slowly took a few steps, measuring the distance, and holding her hands out to the side for balance. Then she crouched down and picked the pokeball up.

Alex took a deep breath, preparing herself, and then pressed the little white button on one side of the pokeball.

A bright light came out of it, blinding her for a few seconds. But she could see the basic shape of the pokemon that came out.

And then hear it.

"Eve? Evee, vi?"

Alex was surprised, to say the least. An eevee? How would the other person have gotten that as her first pokemon?

Maybe her parents were rich, Alex thought, but then shook her head. No, if they were rich, there would be more than just some berries, a little bit of money and a paper card in her bag.

"Ee. Ee. EEVEE!" cried the rabbit like pokemon, bouncing a bit.

Alex looked at it, feeling rather embarrassed. She hadn't been paying attention at all.

She leaned down to look at the eevee.

"Um, hi. I know this is a strange question, but have you ever seen me before?" Alex asked, wanting to know if the other girl had known the eevee before.

The eevee cocked its head, thinking. Then, it shook its head, wondering if all trainers were this….different.

Alex was pleasantly surprised. The eevee could understand her it seemed, and the other girl hadn't even seen the eevee before. She smiled, happy something had gone her way.

"Alright then. Are you a girl?" Alex asked, deciding to name the eevee before trying to get out of the tall grass she was in.

The eevee nodded, her bunny like ears going up and down.

"So now to give you a name…." Alex said, before noticing the eevee shaking her head frantically.

"What's wrong? Do you just want to be called eevee, then?" Alex asked, confused.

The eevee shook her head harder, inwardly raging about how stupid it was that she couldn't talk to humans.

Alex thought for a few seconds.

"Do you already have a name?"

The eevee nodded, relieved they wouldn't have to play the guessing game for long.

"Okay, well, um, do you know how to read and write?" Alex asked, half needing to know, half curious.

The eevee shook her head.

"Okay, well, here…" said Alex, drawing a lowercase A in the dirt. "This means 'ah'."

Then she drew a lowercase B in the ground.

"This means 'b'." she said, and then went on to repeat this with every letter in the alphabet while the eevee watched patiently.

When done, Alex smiled proudly and said, "Now I'll go through them all, and you can nod when you hear the first sound of your name, and then second, and third….you see?"

The eevee nodded while translating her name from pokemon speech to human. It would be easier that way.

When Alex finally figured out what the eevee's name was (Yarrow), it was actually close to the normal time to wake up, and Alex was starving.

"Hey, Yarrow, could you find some food? Or at least a city? I could probably buy something there…" asked Alex, reminding herself mentally to talk to Yarrow about training later.

Yarrow nodded, and started walking away on slender legs, sniffing the ground once or twice.

She slipped in between the grass and Alex followed her, and got only a few steps in before falling flat on her face. This wasn't as bad as the last time for a very simple reason; the grass was softer and tasted better than the ground.

Still, Alex groaned. _Why_ did she want to live life again?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alex sat down in a patch of dirt, panting a bit. It had been a while since she started following Yarrow, and it seemed to by noon, judging by the sky. While Yarrow seemed perfectly fine, if a little tired, Alex was exhausted. She had fallen down many times after the first time, and she could now catch herself with her hands more than half of the time. When she didn't fall she had to push large grass out of her way. It was a hike, and the worse kind.

Yarrow stopped moving and turned to look at her trainer, and then seemed to sigh. She sat down beside Alex, waiting patiently until Alex would get up and walk again, as she had done many times before.

"Hey, Yarrow." Muttered Alex. "Any water around here? I'm thirsty…"

Yarrow didn't bother to lift her head and sniff; she already knew the answer, and nodded.

Alex nodded a bit too.

"Which is closer, the town or the water?" Alex asked. "Never mind, forgot you can't answer me. Just take me to whichever is closer…."

Yarrow nodded, and set off into the grass again, while Alex whimpered, and stood up to follow her.

Alex only fell four times before getting to the small creek. She sighed, and crouched down beside it, cupping her hands together to make a container for water. She drank noisily, filling her hands six times before she was satisfied. Beside her, Yarrow leaned down and licked the water for a few seconds before sitting down, waiting for Alex to ask something of her.

When Alex had drunk all she could, she sat down a few steps away from the creek, and found that the long grass made a good seat. Yarrow turned and walked up to her, then sat down near her feet.

"Yarrow." Alex acknowledged. "Is the city nearby? Sorry, I mean, can we get there before dark?"

Yarrow turned her nose up and sniffed the air, then nodded, though she was a bit unsure.

Alex smiled, and stood up.

"Okay, lead the way."

*#*#*

It was dusk, and Alex was sitting at the edge of a town. She saw Yarrow, a bit before her sitting, waiting for her, and stood up, and started walking into the town.

The town was much different from the ones she was used to, but Alex didn't look around much. Her feet hurt, and she just wanted to find somewhere to sleep. Then she saw a large red and white building, seemingly made out of some type of metal. The large letters on it proclaimed 'Pokemon Center'.

Alex walked up to the door, and it slide open to access her. A young, blond haired nurse was at the counter, looking bored.

"Pokemon trainer?" the nurse asked as soon as Alex walked in.

"Yeah. Can I stay here?" Alex asked, too tired to say anything else.

The nurse shrugged.

"Sure, you're not the first one here. Your pokemon hurt?"

Alex shook her head.

"Follow me then." Said the nurse, coming out from behind the desk and sounding every bit as bored as she was.

Alex followed her up an escalator, and down a hallway to the second last door.

The nurse pointed to the door.

"This is your room, for however long you stay here."

Then she left quickly, not saying another word to Alex.

I wonder, thought Alex, if some people stay here long enough to have a nametag put on their room.

Then she shrugged, and opened the door. Inside was a small bed, a toilet, and a sink. Alex didn't bother wondering why there was a toilet, and instead turned to look behind her.

"You there, Yarrow?"

"Eve." Said a voice from the bed.

Alex tried to smile, but failed. She mumbled 'Good' and lay down on the bed. She fell asleep the second after she had folded up her glasses and put them on the floor.

*#*#


	2. Chapter 2

*#*#

"Eve, eevee, vee, eve eve."

Alex rolled over a bit in her sleep.

"EVE!!"

Alex winced, and opened one eye to find Yarrow bouncing on her bed. She then shut her eye again.

"Eve, eve, eevee, vee, eve, vee vee. Eve vee eve eve eve eve eve."

Alex groaned.

"Yarrow, I don wanna getup." She said sleepily.

"Vee, eve eve!" said Yarrow cheerfully, and just a bit louder.

"Fine! Fine, I'm getting up." Alex said, annoyed.

She stood up, grabbed the glasses from under her bed, put them on, and yawned. Alex looked back at her bed, which was a mess, and shrugged. She opened up and the door, and Yarrow rushed out into the hallway with a few excited yips.

Alex followed Yarrow down the hallway, and went down the escalator rubbing her eyes. Yarrow waited for Alex at the bottom, her tail wagging.

"You're a morning person, aren't you, Yarrow?" said Alex.

Yarrow yipped affirmatively.

Alex sighed, and walked over to the nurse's desk. There was a black-haired older nurse there, instead of the blond young one.

"Um, could you tell me how to get to a place where I can buy a backpack?" asked Alex hesitantly. She hated speaking to other people.

The nurse looked up and smiled.

"You're up early. Well, the best place to get a….what did you call it? Backpack? You'd be best looking at the Pokemart, dear."

While slightly freaked out by being called dear, Alex nodded.

"Okay, thanks." She said to the nurse, then turned to Yarrow. "C'mon, Yarrow."

Alex walked out the door with Yarrow following her, right behind her left ankle, and began to walk down the street. The town, now that she looked at it, didn't seem that big….and she could see a large blue and white building just down the road.

Alex walked to it, Yarrow bouncing around her like a rabbit. She even chased her tail once or twice.

Alex was smiling as she walked into the Pokemart.

She looked around. The shop was huge, rather like Walmart.

Alex started walking around the edges of the store until she found the Pokemon food aisle, which she went down. It didn't take her long to find the eevee food, and she was about to leave when Yarrow sniffed the food, and stuck her tongue out at it.

"Oh, you won't eat that, then?" Alex asked, slightly irritated.

Yarrow shook her head. She hated dry food.

"Fine. But you're going to have to eat whatever I eat then." Alex said, putting the bag back and leaving the aisle.

Yarrow skipped happily behind Alex as she picked out her own food.

"One loaf of bread, one cheese thingy, one meat packet…yeah that's it."

Alex held these in her hands as she looked for the bag sections and finally found it.

There were bags everywhere. Giant ones, tiny ones, red ones, orange ones, even pink ones with skitties on them.

Alex looked and found what she wanted: a large sized brown backpack like bag. What she had at the moment would probably only fill the very bottom on it up, but Alex believed in being prepared. She picked it up, and walked to the clothes section. After looking at them for a few seconds, she decided that going to the used clothing store would probably be a much better idea.

Alex walked out to the check out counter, and set her items on it. A young man smiled at her.

"First time pokemon trainer?" he asked kindly.

"Yeah." Said Alex. "Any suggestions?"

"Get a water bottle. And a sleeping bag, if you can afford it."

"Okay, thanks." Said Alex. "Yarrow….could you get a water bottle? You know where they are…"

Yarrow yipped happily as she ran away.

"I guess that means 'yes'…" Alex said, smiling sheepishly.

The man looked at her appraisingly.

"You've got your pokemon trained already?" he asked.

Alex shook her head.

"Not really, I mean…I just…we work well together is all." Alex said, not really sure how to explain it.

The man looked at her sharply, and Alex blinked in surprise. Then he nodded slightly, as though agreeing with something he had just thought.

"My name's Tom. I'm here at almost any time of the day." He said so intently Alex started memorizing it. "If you get to the second rounds, come find me."

Alex nodded, mentally making a note to look up 'second rounds'.

Alex then felt something pulling at her pants and looked down to see Yarrow tugging her jeans with a water bottle on the floor near by. Yarrow stopped tugging as soon as Alex looked down.

Alex reached down and picked the water bottle up, and put it on the counter.

Tom smiled, all eeriness gone from his face.

"Alright, and to pay for it?" he said.

Alex reached into her little bag, and then almost hit herself on the forehead. She had forgotten about the useless bag.

Alex pulled out the trainer card and berries and money, and then unbuckled the bag and set it on the counter.

"Can I sell this?" she asked.

"Sure." Said Tom, shrugging and handing her some money while he picked up the bag and put it behind him.

Alex put down the money on the counter, hoping she had enough, as she hadn't bothered to try and count it.

Tom quickly looked at the items prices, and then handed her back some money, though she wasn't sure how much.

Alex nodded, and put the food and other items into her new bag, as she didn't want to carry them.

"Goodbye Tom. Have a nice day." She said, remembering his advice.

Tom grinned, and tossed her something. Alex caught on instinct, but almost dropped it afterwards.

"A pokeball? But…" she said, looking at Tom, not sure what to do, or if was some strange custom in this world.

"It's a gift. Have a nice day, kid." He said, slightly mockingly.

Alex grinned brightly and said 'Thank you' before leaving. She ended up putting the pokeball in a pocket in her bag.

Then she walked down the street back to the pokemon center, determined to ask the nurse more questions.

When inside, Alex stopped, and thought, Why, exactly, am I this stupid?

She had just noticed the small bookshelf on one side of the pokemon center. She went upstairs, into her room, and dropped the bag and water bottle on her floor, then scrambled back down again.

"Alright, Yarrow, you can do whatever you want, I'm going to go read for a bit. You can watch, if you want…" Alex said, going over to the bookshelf and reading the titles.

Basic Battle Strategy

The Poke Magazine

Mew: How All Pokemon Started

Pokemon Encyclopedia

Alex stopped at the last one, and pulled out a thick paperback book.

Yarrow started making small noises as Alex flipped through the book, looking for 'eevee', as an eevee was the only pokemon she had.

"What?" Alex asked impatiently.

Yarrow said, "Eve, eevee, eve."

Alex sighed, and then smiled, having found the eevee page. She began reading.

_Defense: Decent._

_Attack: Good_

_Speed: Excellent_

_Durability: Excellent_

Alex turned and glared at Yarrow, who was still making noises.

"What, do you want me to read to you?" Alex asked sarcastically, and grumpily.

Yarrow nodded enthusiastically.

"You know, sometimes I really wish you could talk." Muttered Alex, before beginning to read out loud.

"Eevees are almost always the starter pokemon for trainers." Read Alex, thinking, Well, that explains why I have one, at least.

Yarrow jumped up on her lap, and moved her head to see the book.

Alex patted her once, and while liking the feel of her soft fur, returned her hand to the book.

"There are three main reasons for this. One: Eevees are friendly and loyal pokemon, and so easier for a new trainer to handle. Two: Eevees are stronger than most unevolved pokemon, which means they can protect their trainers better from wild pokemon. Three: Eevees evolve into many different types of pokemon, which gives trainers more choices." Read Alex, slightly surprised, but not too doubtful. After all, she was told to 'not be too sure.'

Alex looked down at the rest of the page, which described eevees, their eating habits, which stones could be used on them and their use in battle. She decided to start reading about eating habits.

"Eevees are known to be rather picky eaters, but they will eat almost anything if they are hungry enough. Their favorite foods are-

"Hey, wanna have a battle?" asked a male voice behind her. Alex, startled, dropped the book, and then turned around.

A young male who didn't look to be any older than twelve but no younger than nine stood to the left and back of her. His hair was blond, his eyes blue. He was smiling.

"Sorry." He said. "I should introduce myself first. I'm Matt, and this is Pyro."

Matt pointed to a Flareon by his feet.

"My name's Alexandra, but you can call me Alex." Alex said. "And my eevee's Yarrow."

"New trainer then?" Matt asked, sitting down beside her. "I've been one for half a year now."

Alex nodded politely, thinking of how best to use this to her advantage.

"Your Flareon…how did you get a Firestone so soon?" asked Alex curiously.

Matt laughed.

"Everybody asks me that. Pyro found it actually. Guess he wanted to be a Flareon." He said, motioning to Pyro. "But really, you want to battle?"

"I…" Alex said, turning to Yarrow, and seeing the eevee curled up in her lap shaking her head and looking scared. "Won't you just beat me? I don't see the point."

"I will, but I won't take any money. Promise." He said, smiling.

Alex looked down at Yarrow again, and shook her head. "I don't want…"

He noticed where she was looking.

"Don't worry, Pyro won't hurt him. It'll just be a little practice." Matt said.

"Her." Alex said. "Yarrow…do you want to? I think it'd be useful…"

Yarrow bravely stepped out of Alex's lap, though she trembled a bit. Yarrow hadn't wanted to fight, but she knew she would have to as a trainer's pokemon. And Yarrow was realistic; she would have to fight sometime. A little practice never hurt anybody, she was sure.

"That's the spirit." Matt said. "We'll meet you outside, okay Alex?"

Alex nodded.

"Okay." She said quietly.

As Matt left, Alex put away the book, and looked at Yarrow, who seemed frightened.

"Yarrow…you probably only know tackle, right?" she asked softly, not wanting to scare the eevee.

Yarrow shook her head.

"Oh…sand attack too, right?"

Yarrow nodded.

"Well, you should probably use sand attack, and then tackle, and keep on doing that as much as you can. There isn't really a good strategy for just two attacks…." Alex said slowly.

Yarrow nodded again, her ears down.

"Yarrow…you can remember that, right?" Alex asked. "I don't have to tell you what to do, right? I mean, you probably know how to fight better than I do…"

Yarrow pricked her ears up a bit, and nodded, happy to have free range.

"Good." Said Alex smiling. "Now, I don't think we'll win this, but we're going to try. And fail. ….That wasn't exactly positive, was it?"

Yarrow yipped, though it was hard to tell if she was amused or scared.

Alex stepped outside, Yarrow at her heel, and saw Matt gesturing to her. She walked faster to where he seemed to be standing in an empty field with grass growing around it, right beside the Pokemon center.

"Hey. So, Alex, you're not leaving, right?

Alex smiled.

"Well, I don't know. You could be trying to trick me…." She said jokingly, hiding her fears that that was exactly what was happening.

Matt shrugged.

"Why would I?"

Alex shrugged as well.

"Good point."

"Eve?" asked Yarrow softly.

"Looks like she wants to play." Matt said, amused.

"How about we have both of them go to the middle of the field, and then count to five?"

"Who's going to count?" asked Alex, motioning for Yarrow to go to the middle of the field, which Yarrow did.

"You can." Matt said, grinning at her.

"Okay….."Alex said, waiting until both Pokemon were in the middle of the field, about two feet apart. "One, two, three, four…five!"

"Pyro, tackle." Matt yelled.

Alex watched in slight fear as Yarrow avoided it, but just barely, her tail being pushed aside at the end.

"You should tell her what to do." Matt said kindly to Alex, then blinking in surprise when Yarrow used sand attack without any reason to.

"How come she's attacking?" he asked Alex, who had noticed that Pyro wasn't dodging.

"She just knows Tackle and Sand Attack. There's no real strategy for those attacks, so I'm just letting her work on her own." Alex said, beginning to wonder why not all trainers did this.

"That isn't a bad idea at this level, but if your Eevee gets confused, you should order it to attack or dodge, because it may not know what to do." Matt said, then, "Pyro, use Ember as much as you can. Don't worry about any attacks."

Yarrow dodged Ember attacks, but they kept her away from Pyro, so she couldn't get near enough to attack him.

Alex watched the 'game' with fear in her eyes, but then spotted an opportunity when Yarrow was very close to Pyro, but there was fire and burning grass in her way.

"JUMP!" Alex called, trusting Yarrow to understand what she meant.

Yarrow did understand, and crouched down to jump straight over the fire, landing in a tumble on the other side. She bounced right back up and flew at Pyro who had just barely stopped his Ember attack, knocking them both to the ground.

"Pryo, bite, ember!" Matt called.

Yarrow escaped from the tangle her and Pyro were in, and narrowly avoided his bite, though a few tuff of fur on the end of her tails were yanked off.

The ember caught her, since she had no time to turn and dodge again. It burned her fur, and Yarrow made a sharp yipping noise as it touched her skin.

Alex turned to Matt, scared. "Can we stop now? Yarrow's hurt."

Matt looked at her and smiled. "Sure, Pyro, come here." He called, and Pyro turned from Yarrow and ran towards him.

Alex run over to Yarrow, worried. She looked down at the eevee, embers still smoking in her fur, and then pulled up the grass beside her to get to dirt, which she then poured on Yarrow's body to extinguish the last of the fire.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Ve, eve, vi, vi." Yarrow yipped quietly.

Alex gently picked Yarrow up in her arms and walked over to Matt, slightly disgusted by the brutality of Pokemon battles.

Matt grinned at her.

"You're good for a newbie." He said. "Do you have a cell phone?"

Alex shook her head.

"No….I don't have very much money, so I don't think I could afford one."

Matt nodded.

"Right, but I'm going off today, so here." He said, pulling out a pen and a piece of paper and scribbling something on the paper.

Alex took the piece of paper, seeing a string of numbers written on it, folded it twice, and put it into a pocket of her bag.

"Thank you." she said quietly, realizing she could have faced far harsher trainers than Matt.

"You're welcome." Matt, smiling in a way Alex already considered 'Matt-like'. "Just remember to call me as soon as you can, alright?"

"I will." Alex promised as Matt began to walk away. He turned and gave her one last grin to show that he had heard.

Alex looked down at Yarrow, curled up and looking pathetic in her arms, and realized she needed far more information.

She walked carefully back to the Pokemon center, making sure not to jostle Yarrow too much. She would have put Yarrow in a Poke ball if she knew it would help, but she wasn't sure it would. How did poke balls work, anyway? She couldn't remember; it'd been years since she watched Pokemon, and she wasn't sure they explained it there.

Besides, it didn't look like she was hurting Yarrow, and the Pokemon Center wasn't far.

Alex was grateful for the automatic sliding doors as she walked into the pokemon center. She hadn't wanted to move her hands.

The first thing she noticed was that the black haired woman had been replaced by the blond one. She felt a bit nervous of the apathetic woman, but walked up to the counter all the same.

"Um, my eevee is hurt….what should I do?" Alex asked, hating the way she sounded so unsure.

The woman glanced over the eevee with bored blue eyes and sighed.

"New trainers…always so worried when their pokemon's hurt. It'll survive…just let it sleep for a while." Muttered the nurse, sounding irritated. Her eyes darted down to a cell phone in her hand.

Alex wasn't sure what to say. Obviously she wasn't an expert in pokemon healing, but Yarrow's burn looked nasty, and certainly was painful.

"Um, could I get something to help her sleep, then?" Alex asked quietly.

The nurse gave her a cold look for talking again, and said, "No. If you want to spoil it, buy the medicine yourself."

Alex looked down at Yarrow, who seemed to be dozing, and the side of her that was burned. She could feel Yarrow's breathing, and felt protective of the little creature in her arms. Alex would make sure she was safe.

"I'm not sure I have enough money…" she said again, ignoring the nurse's clear look of 'leave'.

"Then come back here if it gets infected." Snapped the woman.

Alex bowed her head, whispered 'Alright', and left the pokemon center holding back tears. Why had the woman been so cruel to her? She might have been a bit of a nuisance, but she hadn't done anything wrong, had she? She had to find out more about this world.

Alex walked all the way to the Pokemart again, stopping for a few seconds every time she accidentally jostled Yarrow and heard a little hurt yip.

She was grateful to the sliding doors of the pokemart too, and walked into the air-conditioned store.

Tom was sitting at the counter, reading a magazine, and she walked quickly towards him.

She stood in front of the counter for a few seconds, but he didn't notice her.

"Um, Tom? Do you…have anything for burns?" she asked quietly.

Just when Alex thought she'd have to ask again, he put down his magazine.

"You again? I didn't realize; you sounded different last time you were here." He said, standing up and putting the magazine down. "A burn heal? Sure, I can get that."

He turned around and strode out from behind the counter, moving into shelves and then quickly coming back.

"Here's some salve." He said, handing it to Alex. She managed to grab it in one hand.

"How much is it?" she asked, dreading the time she'd have getting out the money.

"19.5." Tom said, then noticing her problem, "You can put-Yarrow, did you say?- on the counter if you like."

Alex smiled shyly at him. He was far nicer than the pokemon lady. She reached up and gently put Yarrow down on the glass counter.

Then she got out her money from a pocket in her bag, and tried to count it. She had five gray bills that said '20' on them, and four green bills that had '5' on them. She put three green '5' bills and four gray bills back into the bag, and then handed one gray'20' bill and one green '5' bill to Tom, hoping she had guessed right on the money.

Apparently she had, because he said nothing about it, only handing her back a '1' gray bill.

"You should spread that over the burn, then bandage it up." He said, gesturing towards the burn heal. "Though I have to wonder, why are you here? There's a Pokemon Center down the road."

Alex nodded, putting the burn heal in a pocket as well as her money and stepping up closer to the counter.

"I know, but they just told me to let her sleep. I wanted to make sure she healed up nicely, so I asked if there was anything more I could do, and they said I should buy something here." Alex said, noticing after she said that Tom looked surprised.

"What? Was that okay?" she asked, wondering if she had done something wrong.

"It was fine." Tom murmured, giving her a small smile. "I was just surprised. Few trainers would do that."

He smiled at her again, this time a bit darker.

"Did it make you mad when the center wouldn't help you?" he asked warmly.

Alex blinked. That was a bit of a strange question, but he asked it so kindly….it seemed as though he was just teasing her.

Her first thought was to say no, but she remembered how the nurse had called Yarrow it, and was so nasty….

"A little bit." Alex said, surprised at the honestly of her answer.

Tom smiled, this time without the darker edge.

"Don't worry, we all feel like that sometimes." He said reassuringly. "But I believe I'm forgetting something. I haven't asked your name."

Alex realized he hadn't, and felt embarrassed. She should have introduced herself.

"Oh, I'm Alexandra Wood. But everyone calls me Alex." She added hastily.

"Well, Alex, did you know that the center has a back door that's never locked? And that through that door are their supplies, which they never really check? Including bandages? Of course, I'm only telling you this because you need to make sure to lock your own door, just in case."

Alex nodded, but her eyes were huge. Was Tom trying to convince her to steal something?

"Don't look at me like that." He said. "I'm only telling you this; it's your choice to lock the door or not."

Alex nodded again, before slipping her arms under Yarrow and doing her best to lift her off the counter without hurting her.

Once she had gotten Yarrow down, she turned to Tom, and said, 'Thank you' before half running out the door.


	3. Chapter 3

Alex walked back slowly, to give herself time to think and avoid jostling Yarrow.

Tom seemed friendly enough, but she wasn't sure she could trust him completely. However, Yarrow needed some bandages.

By the time she got back to the pokemon center she had decided on 'locking her door' aka stealing the bandages. It wasn't as though she had the money to buy them.

She went upstairs, ignoring the lady at the desk, and set Yarrow down on her bed, belatedly noticing she hadn't made it.

"Hey Yarrow. You relax, okay? I'll be right back. Don't worry." Alex whispered, more for her benefit than Yarrow's.

Yarrow made a small noise regardless, and Alex looked at her for a second, and then left the center.

She moved quickly around to the back, not seeing someone watching her but paranoid someone would see her. She found the little back door just as Tom had said, and turned the door handle to open it.

Alex froze as soon as it opened, but there was no one inside the little storeroom. She berated herself for not listening at the door crack before opening it, and then crouched down.

She moved around tentatively, but the bandages weren't hard to find. They were stacked and folded neatly and filled the shelves of one wall. Alex picked up one folded set of them, then looked at them again, thought of her large backpack, and picked up another two sets.

Then she sneaked out, not bothering for stealth this time, only speed. The door was shut with a slight noise because of this, but it didn't matter because Alex had already stuffed the bandages under her shirt and gotten to the side of the Pokemon center. She paused to rearrange the bandages so that they looked less as though she was hiding something, and then walked straight through the doors and to her room, her eyes kept looking ahead as she tried to ignore her nerves.

No one stopped her or even appeared to notice her.

Alex shut the door firmly behind as she went into her room, displeased that it didn't have a lock. She carefully put the bandages she didn't need in her back pack on the floor, and then pulled out the salve from her pocket.

She opened it and used her fingers to spread it over Yarrow's burn, trying not to wince as she did so. The burn looked painful, and it was only a practice fight. She now remembered trainers waiting in pokemon centers in the TV show. Would that be her?

Yarrow whimpered softly, and Alex was brought back to the present. She had touched Yarrow's skin by accident.

"Sorry." She whispered, then wiped her hands on her pants and grabbed the bandages. She wrapped them firmly around Yarrow's burn, ignoring the small yelps that Yarrow made. Alex knew it would hurt, but she was certain that the bandages wouldn't hurt after they were on. And it seemed she was right because Yarrow stopped making noises as soon as she tied the last end off.

Alex draped a blanket lightly over Yarrow, murmured 'Stay here, sleep.' and went downstairs. She needed more information.

The nasty nurse was still there, but she knew she couldn't put it off. It was already around four o'clock, and Alex wondered how long she had slept.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

The nurse glared.

"What does 'second rounds' mean?" Alex asked.

"Look, I don't why you're asking me this, but will you shut up and go away?"

"I have three questions. If you answer them, I won't talk to you ever again. I promise." Alex said. Normally she wouldn't dare, but she had to get some sort of information. She was terrified of this world

"Fine. Maybe you're just an idiot. There are four 'rounds'. Four rounds, four years. There are eight gym badges. You have to get two every year, or else they take away your pokemon, and you can't be a trainer. Seconds rounds would mean your second year. Get it?"

"Yes." Alex said, then added, "So, how do I get a map? I want to go to a different town."

The nurse reached under the desk and handed her a piece of paper that appeared to be a map.

"You can get to Hovertwon or Rhitand in a day." She informed Alex.

Alex nodded, and then asked her last question.

"Where can you buy used clothes here?"

"All the way down the street, to the left. That's three, now leave."

Alex did so, and went to the clothes store.

#$#$#$#$#

She came back just as it started to get dark with a thick wool sweater and a pair of shorts. She was wearing the sweater and found it to be itchy though not so badly so wanted to take it off. Alex mentally added 'non itchy sweater' to her 'when I get money' list, which already included a sleeping bag and a cellphone.

Alex went to bed, easing her body over Yarrow's to the other side of the bed and then pulling what was left of the covers over herself.

She spent the time before falling asleep reminded herself she wanted to get up early, and remembering the battle that Yarrow was in.

###

Alex woke up, opened her eyes a crack to see if it was daylight and noted it was. She groaned, not wanting to get up, but knowing she had decided to leave in the morning. Her stomach felt strangely warm, and after rubbing her eyes Alex looked down to see Yarrow pressed up against her. She smiled, and got up trying not to disturb the eevee.

Her effort failed; Yarrow opened her eyes just after Alex had stepped onto the floor.

"Eve, ve, ve."

"Hey Yarrow. Think you're up to walking, or should I carry you?" Alex asked, not even thinking about Yarrow being in her pokeball.

In answer Yarrow jumped to the floor, bounced a few times, and gave her tail a small wag.

"Alright. Just let me check that burn." Alex replied, leaning down and undoing the bandages. Surprisingly the burn was almost gone with only a small red spot as a reminder. There was even some fur beginning to grow around the edges. Alex wondered if pokemon normally healed that fast or if it had something to do with the burn heal.

"That's good. You don't need these anymore, and I don't want anyone to see them." Alex said, putting the bandages into her bag.

Yarrow tilted her head to the side in what was obviously a questioning look.

"Eve?"

"Well, I'm not technically supposed to have them, that's all."

Yarrow was a bright eevee, and knew very well that meant 'I stole them'. Yarrow's feelings for her trainer had risen quite a bit by the time Alex had made the bed and gotten everything into her bag, including the sweater she had been wearing.

"Okay Yarrow, time to go." Alex said. Yarrow followed her out of the room and out of the center.

Alex walked down to the pokemart, enjoying the fresh breeze even if it was a little cold. She poked her head in around the sliding doors.

"Tom?" she called.

"Hey, it's the kid. Nice to see ya, Alex. Yarrow looks good." He replied, giving a grin to Yarrow who had come to prance around his legs.

"She does. Do pokemon always heal that quickly? We're leaving today, right now." Alex said, wincing at how disconnected her sentences sounded.

"Pokemon heal pretty quick. You won't be able to see the placed she was burned the day after tomorrow. You're leaving, huh?" Tom asked, before turning and writing something down, then tearing off a piece of paper and folding it. "Here's my phone number, call me sometime."

He reached over to give it to Alex, and she stretched out her arm to take it from his fingers and stuff it in her pocket, the same one Matt's was in.

"Goodbye Tom. Thanks for all your help. C'mon, Yarrow."

Yarrow cheerfully ran over to Alex and she let the door close, hearing half of Tom's goodbye before it was cut off.

Alex went to the path she had noticed going down to the used clothes shop. It had a sign that pointed to a direction away from town and said 'Hovertwon'. Since it didn't appear to be near where she came from, Alex followed it.

It became a nice day, and while Alex was content to simply walk along at a normal pace, Yarrow seemed to want to run ahead and then back to her again, stopping to attack anything that happened to move, like, say, the grass. Or a dead leaf.

By midday, Alex was starving, and Yarrow was walking beside her panting. She had finally found a small stream she could fill her water bottle at, and sat down to eat lunch, which was a piece of bread with a slice of cheese and a slice of meat on it. A quarter of it was given to Yarrow, who ate in tiny, delicate bites. Alex finished her food before Yarrow, and sat sipping some water, having no desire to start walking again. Her eyes fell to the stream. It was very pretty…didn't pokemon live in it? She wondered if she could eat them.

"Hello."

Alex jumped a little bit, and turned to look at the woman who had caught her off guard. She was a pretty woman, blond hair, green eyes, delicate face, curvy figure….Alex felt a bit jealous really.

"I'm Catherina. Call me Rina. You're a new trainer, right? I can tell. The world's a bit tough, isn't it? You can't win a battle, your pokemon was hurt, you don't have any money……I know that feeling. There's no harm in admitting you took on more than you could handle. It's an intelligent move. It isn't as though you could stay a trainer anyway. Dreams always look so much harder in real life." Rina spoke sympathetically, her voice soft and gentle.

Alex nodded, more because she didn't want to offend Rina than anything else.

"You might think, but what about my pokemon? Well, just give it to me, and tell your parents you lost it, or it was stolen."

Alex could hear the warning signals going off in her head. There was obviously something wrong about this woman. Why was she asking for Yarrow?


	4. Chapter 4

Alex glanced over at Yarrow, who had finished her food and was listening intently. She couldn't give Yarrow up, aside from the fact that this woman might hurt her, Yarrow was the only person, well pokemon, that Alex knew was on her side in the entire world. If she didn't have Yarrow, she'd be completely alone, completely on her own.

"I can't. Not ever." Alex said, shaking her head.

"Don't be silly. I can see you think I'm some sort of…evil person. I'm just trying to help you. Don't you know what happens to trainers who keep their pokemon? They just get killed in an alleyway somewhere, and their pokemon are taken from them. There's no asking, and no one really cares about a new trainer anyway. Your parents might, but they'll just get told 'Oh it's a dangerous business being a pokemon trainer. She probably fell off a cliff.'" Rina concluded, feeling pleased. This tactic had never failed her before, mostly because it was true and everyone knew that in some sort of instinctive way.

It would have worked on Alex, provided she had parents to go back to. But the only people Alex knew were Tom and Matt and she was sure that they wouldn't care about her if she wasn't a trainer. And then there was Yarrow herself who felt rather like a teddy bear she'd had when she was little and never wanted to give away, despite the obvious holes and stains.

"No, I'm sorry, I can't." Alex reapeated.

"What is wrong with you? You have no back up, no older sibling or parent to keep you from ending up dead, and you aren't from a family whose name means anything. You're Alexandra Wood, you come from a little town in the middle of nowhere, you became a pokemon trainer because it was your 'dream' and you're a shy mousy little thing who's never told anyone no in your life." Rina said, breathing heavily as her voice become louder. "Well?"

"I go by Alex." Alex said for lack of anything else to respond with.

"You should go by 'idiot'." Rina snarled. Then she calmed down and took a few deep breaths. "Don't you know how much eevee's are worth?"

Alex glanced at Yarrow, startled. She had known eevee's were supposedly rare, but since she got one for a starter pokemon she had assumed that was wrong.

"They don't live in the wild. And they're extremely hard to breed. The only reason new trainers get one is because they're from the government. There's always been black market eevees for sale, but only the government has enough to have a consistant stock. They give them out to trainers so that the trainers feel…indebted to them. Or something like that. It isn't for the reasons they say it is though, you can be sure of that." Rina said, then began to walk away. "But you'll be crazy enough to turn me down no matter what I offer for it, won't you?"

Alex took a few seconds to work out what Rina had said, and then said, "Yes. But thank you for telling me."

"Don't thank me. It isn't going to keep you alive." Rina called from somewhere beyond the trees.

Alex wasn't sure what to say to that, and so said nothing and started to walk again. Yarrow ran ahead again, but Alex didn't notice her. She was thinking.

_What am I supposed to do? Rina didn't sound like she was lying, and it makes sense. Could I pretend to not be a pokemon trainer? But Rina knew me. I couldn't fight them; they're probably far older than me. Maybe I could say Rina bought Yarrow from me? But that won't work for long, especially if I have to get badges too._

These thoughts followed Alex around in circles as she walked forward, barely noticing the world passing by.

"Vi! Eve, eve, ve."

Alex stopped to see what Yarrow was making noise about and realized there was a six foot high cliff in front of her. She felt extremely stupid for not noticing _that._

"Thanks Yarrow." Alex muttered, looking for a way around it. There was one, but it went through a patch of knee high grass. Alex looked uncertainly at it. Whatever was there couldn't be bigger than her, but….

"Yarrow……if a pokemon attacks me….you'll protect me, right?" Alex asked, hating that she had to ask. It made her feel very weak and stupid but Alex preferred feeling weak and stupid to being bitten or poisoned somehow.

"Eevee." Yarrow replied in a soothing tone, nodding her head and walking into the grass.

Alex felt worse as she followed Yarrow into the grass. Even her pokemon knew she was terrified. She felt slightly guilty for making Yarrow protect her, but reasoned with herself that Yarrow would be far better at it than her. Still, she was certain she'd regret this forever if Yarrow actually ended up hurt.

They got through the grass with no pokemon appearing, and Alex wondered if that only happened in pokemon games.

It didn't. Alex found this out just as it became dusk while she and Yarrow were crossing the third grassy area they had found. A small little creature had launched itself, not at her, but at Yarrow. Alex felt as though she was dunked in cold water, but Yarrow had hit the pokemon away before she could even register anything more than the fact that it was purple.

This happened several more times as they got closer to the Hovertwon, which Alex could see in the distance. Eventually Alex got used to it enough that she didn't feel scared anymore, but she still flinched every time a pokemon attacked, and was certain she'd never get used to it.

Alex could barely see the city by the time the sun had fallen, and was guided by the bright lights. This made sure she didn't go in the wrong direction, but did not help her problem of stumbling over tree roots and rocks whatsoever. Alex was tired, hurt, and hungry as she trudged into the city. She wondered if getting to cities would feel like this all the time as she went into the pokemon center and was told her room.

This time she didn't even get her glasses off before falling asleep.

*^*^*^*

"Eve, vi, vee, eevee, eve, eve, eve!"

Alex opened her eyes to seeing a bouncing Yarrow and had a strong feeling of deja-vu. She hoped it wouldn't be like this every morning, but knew that it would be.

"Hey Yarrow…give me a second, okay?" Alex asked before closing her eyes and going back to sleep.

Alex woke up again, this time because she wanted to, and staggered out of bed to stretch. She noticed Yarrow sitting by the door and being very, very still.

"Thanks Yarrow. Look, you're all healed up." Alex said. It was true; where her burn had been there was now fur. It was shorter than the rest of her fur, but she certainly wasn't injured.

Alex opened the door, and walked out into the hallway. There was only one thing on her mind, and that was finding a place where she could have a bath. Or a shower; Alex wasn't picky. Yarrow followed quietly behind her left ankle, like a little shadow, to the desk in the front of the center.

"Um, hello. Do you know where I can get a bath? Or shower?" Alex asked timidly.

The woman didn't looked up from the magazine she was reading.

"There's soap in your bathroom, and there's a river down the road. Washing your clothes would be a good idea." She answered vaguely, turning a page in her magazine.

Alex nodded though the woman wasn't looking at her.

"Yarrow, could you go get me soap?" Alex asked the oddly quiet eevee. Yarrow nodded but made no noise as she slipped away. Alex remembered too late that she had shut her door. She started to go after Yarrow but just as she was going up Yarrow came down with a white soap bar gripped gently in her mouth. Alex smiled at her and leaned down to take it.

"You know how to open doors then? That's a good skill to have." She commented before standing up. "Let's go, you can probably use a bath too."

!!!!!

Alex walked the streets, shivering from the cold. Her clothes and hair were still slightly damp and the water had been freezing. She wanted to live in a town with hot springs. She wondered how gym leaders decided who got what town. Yarrow walked beside her, perky but not playful. In the light of day Rina's word seemed like a scary story, and Alex didn't like the idea of keeping Yarrow in a pokeball.

Alex wandered around the city, enjoying the look of it. It was somehow different than the ones she had lived in.

"Eve?" Yarrow questioned softly, looking up at a large building. Alex turned to look at it and winced. It was a gym, apparently led by Shrike Avifau.

"That's a gym. I don't think we'll be going in there." Alex said, but even as she spoke she felt curious. It couldn't hurt to take a look around. "Or maybe we will. What do you think?"

Yarrow elegantly walked up to the door and pushed on it to make it open. She then took a few steps in as if to say 'See? This isn't hard.'

"I guess that's an answer." Muttered Alex as she half relunctantly stepped inside as well.

The gym was nicely lighted, and not as big as it looked on the outside. Alex remembered some sort of random gym trainers from the games, but the only person there was a dark haired young man who was sitting in a chair reading a book. As she looked at him he raised a hand in a 'stop' sign.

"Wait a second, please. I'd like to finish this sentence." He said, his voice warm and kind.

Alex didn't dare say no.


	5. Chapter 5

After a few seconds he looked up, studied her for a few moments, and then smiled.

"So you want to challenge me?" Shrike asked conversationally.

Alex shook her head vigorously making strands of her hair flying in front of her face.

"No, I was just curious. That's all." She replied, not wanting to be mistaken for a challenger.

"Well, since you're here." Said Strike, putting his book down and standing up. "You could relieve my boredom for a minute. We'll have a little practice battle."

Alex again found herself unable to say no. It wasn't that she found him attractive; she didn't, though she could see why some girls would. It was because he seemed so completely confident things would go his way that to contradict him would mean to challenge his authority, and Alex didn't dare do that.

"Okay….that's okay, right Yarrow?" she asked the silent eevee at her side. Yarrow nodded but made no other movement. Alex was staring at her and wondering if she was sulking for some reason when a flash of bright light made her turn her head.

A small bird-like pokemon was on the floor of the gym, making little cheeping sounds. Alex couldn't remember what kind of pokemon it was, but thought it started with a P or possibly a S. As she was thinking this Yarrow stepped closer to the pokemon, her movements quick and her eyes wary. Alex saw this and hoped this battle was nothing like the last one they were in.

To her relief it wasn't. The bird pokemon, which she learned from Shrike's orders was called Weather, made a move called 'quick attack' repetitively. The attack was very quick, and Yarrow mostly couldn't dodge it, but the most it did to her was knock her over.

Alex flinched each time Yarrow hit the ground but it didn't seem to bother Yarrow very much as she always jumped up afterwards without hesitation.

Alex began to see a pattern in Weather's attacks. Weather would stop, pause, and turn to Yarrow before using quick attack. This never lasted for more than a second, but it was easy to see after it had been spotted once. Yarrow wouldn't be able to see it because she wasn't watching the big picture, only trying to avoid Weather's attacks by constantly moving.

Alex saw Weather stop, and pulled up her courage enough to say, "Side."

Yarrow followed her order as soon as it was given, leaping to the side. Weather sped past her and skidded to a halt a few feet away.

"Good job." Called Shrike from the other side of the room. "Nice noticing. Try to speak a little louder next time though."

Alex nodded, and turned her attention back to the fight. She spoke too late or too quiet once or twice, but within ten minutes Yarrow was dodging every quick attack. Both Yarrow and Weather were moving slower, and Yarrow was panting.

"Sand attack, Weather." Shrike called after Yarrow's seventh avoidance of quick attack in a row.

Before Alex had understood what he said Weather had used his wings to make a cloud of sand. She could see Yarrow's shape in it, but she didn't appear to be doing anything.

_She's waiting for me to tell her what to do,_ Alec realized. Her only idea was a rather stupid one, but she couldn't think of anything better.

"Use sand attack. Close your eyes." Alex said, her voice barely audible across the room. She couldn't tell if Yarrow had heard or not. The cloud did get sandier, but that had the side effect of obscuring Yarrow from view.

A few minutes passed, and the sand shifted down to land on an unconscious eevee and a bird pokemon that wasn't moving.

Alex ran over to Yarrow and picked her up, letting the sand fall off of her body and onto the floor. She only relaxed when she felt Yarrow's breath on her arm.

Alex turned to Shrike while shifting her arms to hold Yarrow in a more comfortable position. He had picked up the little bird as well, but by the feet. Alex stared at him in horror. He caught her look, and shrugged.

"Dead. Guess that means you win." He said nonchalantly, tossing her something that glittered. Alex tried to catch it as best she could with Yarrow in her arms but it fell to the floor. She leaned down to pick it up and saw that it was a gym badge, square and silver with two black feathers crossing in the middle.

"That's not…you can't give that to me. And, and, Weather's dead. Doesn't that matter?" Alex asked softly, overwhelmed by what was happening.

"Doesn't matter. Weather was always a bit fragile for a bird; that's why I didn't train him seriously, I knew he'd die of it someday." Shrike said kindly. "And you were good enough to get a badge. You're just a little girl; I was impressed at how smart you were."

Alex froze, the words cutting through her fear and confusion. She didn't hear exactly what he said, but exactly what he meant.

He gave her the badge because he pitied her.

Alex had a sudden desire to throw the badge back at him, but ignored it and picked the silver square up and slipped it into her pocket. Then, before Shrike could say anything else, she ducked her head, murmured 'Thanks' and half ran out of the gym.

It wasn't nighttime, it was barely afternoon but Alex only wanted to sleep. She went back to her room, curled up on the bed, placed Yarrow beside her, put her glasses by the bed, and cried herself to sleep.

#$#$#$#$#

Alex woke up to a wet nose nudging her hand. She opened her eyes to see Yarrow beside her, and felt brilliantly happy. She had had awful dreams in which Yarrow had died, and ones where she never woke up. Alex smiled sleepily at Yarrow and wrapped an arm around her.

"Glad you're okay. Thanks." Alex mumbled. They stayed like that for a while, Yarrow apparently not minding Alex's arm in the least, until lifted her arm, sat up and stood up.

"I'm starving. Do you think they serve food here?" she asked Yarrow, as she opened the door.

"Vi, eve?" Yarrow replied, sounding uncertain, as they walked downstairs. Yarrow knew there was food; she could smell it. But she wasn't certain what Alex wanted of her. Yarrow remembered what her mother had told her, that you must always obey your trainer. That was because they had power, and pokemon did not, so if they were pleased life would be much easier. Some of Yarrow's siblings had scoffed at this, and Yarrow herself had mentioned the pokemon who were a pain but loved by their trainers anyway. Her mother had pointed out that the times this hadn't happened wouldn't be known, would they? Yarrow had understood this with a cold clarity and resolved to be the best, sweetest, and most obedient eevee ever.

Alex was different though. Her mother had mentioned feeling protected by trainers, but never feeling protective of them. Yarrow felt fiercely protective of the soft-spoken girl who was scared of the grass and battles.

Thinking of Alex, she looked up to see her trainer talking to the leader of the gym they had just visited. Yarrow caught a few words 'pokemon…better to have two…good for training them' but tuned them out to think.

She wasn't sure what Alex wanted from her, but Alex didn't seem to mind her being…bouncy. Except for in the morning. It was confusing. At least Yarrow knew Alex wanted her to obey in battle, and she could do that, though it was sometimes hard to hear Alex's orders. And everything else, she'd have to figure out along the way. Yarrow felt lucky Alex was so kind, even if that was part of the problem.

With a plan of action decided, Yarrow turned back to listen to the conversation just in time to hear 'killed' 'Weather' and 'Yarrow'. Yarrow was her name in the human language.

Yarrow's mind put it together before she could even truly think about it.

"Eve!"

%&%&%&%&%&%&%

Alex had been talking to Shrike about training, and maybe taking Yarrow to the gym to learn quick attack, when he threw in a simple, "Yes, and your Yarrow killed Weather for certain. I just made sure of it."

"Eve!"

Alex felt guilty. Maybe she should have told Yarrow before this. It had to be a bad way to learn…that you killed someone.

"Excitable little pokemon, isn't it?" Shrike asked conversationally.

Alex felt strangely numb after those words, the guilt frozen in her flesh.

"She didn't know Weather was dead." Alex said, her voice completely neutral.

Shrike gave a light little condescending laugh.

"Please Alex. Pokemon can't understand us; they aren't intelligent enough to. Don't be one of those trainers who reads words into everything your pokemon does."

Alex was too busy thinking of all the ways Yarrow contradicted his words to reply.

"And even if they could, why would they care if they killed a pokemon? To them, it's only the natural order of things. They eat each other, Alex."

Alex still felt numb but now it had turned cold. She decided that Shrike wasn't saying anything of use, and it felt logical, so she ignored him and leaned down to Yarrow.

"Yarrow? I'm sorry." Alex said, aware that it made her sound crazy but unable to care. It wasn't important.

Yarrow looked up from the floor. Alex could almost see the pain in her eyes, and then she ran. The center's doors opened for her, and she was gone in a flash of brown.

Alex was aware that Shrike had grabbed her arm and was saying something, but all that mattered was that Yarrow had left and she wasn't with her.

Alex let her body go slack, then ripped herself from Shrike's loosed hold and ran through the door herself.

After a quick walk around town, Alex found Yarrow curled up by the gym sign. It had just started to drizzle, so Alex leaned up against the sign, giving Yarrow a dryer shelter.

Alex couldn't remember how long they were in the rain for, but she knew at some point that Yarrow had gotten up and walked away and she had followed until Yarrow simply sat down in the middle of the street. Then she reached down, gently picked Yarrow up, and kept walking.


	6. Chapter 6

She only stopped to go into the pokemon center and pick up her backpack.

Shrike was still there, and smiled at her. He moved so that he was in the way to the door.

"Hello Alex." He said with the smile Alex was truly beginning to hate.

Alex meant to say 'I never want to see you again' but it got mixed up from her brain from her mouth and what came out was, "I won't be seeing you again."

"I don't think that's true." He replied with a touch of smugness.

Alex nodded, swerved around him, and forced herself through the door, all with her head kept down.

When she got out she felt more than saw it was raining heavily.

"Alex…you'll get wet out here. Talk to me about this." Shrike called from inside the pokemon center.

Alex shook her head very slightly, and picked up Yarrow again. She didn't know where or why she was going, but she knew she wasn't staying there.

If Shrike said anything more she didn't hear it.

It was possibly the longest night of her life. It was raining for half of it, and the rest of the time it was wet. Alex was grateful she had picked a wide and well-traveled path to leave town by, even if she didn't know where she was going. Alex wasn't sure how long she shuffled along with Yarrow in her arms, trying not to fall by walking slowly but it felt like eternity. She had never been so grateful to see the sun before.

The path that she was following never seemed to end so Alex simply found a mostly dry spot to lie down in, and close her eyes. She didn't think she would go to sleep, just rest for a second or two, but she did, Yarrow still clutched in her arms.

She woke up and it didn't seem to be afternoon yet. Alex spent a few seconds trying to get back to sleep, but gave up when the ground proved too uncomfortable. She wondered how she had ever slept there in the first place as she sat up.

A boy was sitting on the other side of the road. His eyes were a warm brown and his hair was almost the same colour. He was laughing as an eevee tried to drag a large stick towards him.

Alex smiled; it was nice to see someone who was enjoying the day after Hovertwon.

He turned his head to glance over at her, and Alex froze, caught in his stare. It seemed like he was laughing at her now.

"Hey! You're awake. I'm Yan, and this is Sailor." He said, motioning to the eevee beside him. "What are your names?"

"I'm Alex." Alex said quietly.

"Doesn't your eevee have a name?" he asked, sounding concerned as he moved closer, Sailor following.

Alex thought she might be blushing and looked down at Yarrow who was blinking sleepy eyes, woken from the conversation.

"Yarrow." She mumbled.

"Narrow?" Yan asked curiously, coming closer and holding out his hand.

"Yarrow." Alex repeated, this time a little louder.

She looked at his hand, reached out and lightly shook it. This time, she was certain she was blushing.

"Well, Alex, Yarrow, where are you going? You don't see many new trainers around." Yan asked.

Alex wanted to answer him truthfully. Yan didn't seem like anyone she had met before. Matt had been friendly, but with an undertone of competition. Tom had been friendly, but Alex thought he had a reason for it. Shrike…she didn't want to think about him. Yan felt as though he was just being friendly to be friendly.

"I…don't know yet." Alex admitted, looking down again and noticing that Yarrow was wide awake now.

"Do you want down?" she inquired of the pokemon softly. Yarrow nodded, so she leaned down and let her step onto the ground.

Yarrow blinked, and then bounced over to the other eevee. She made a few noises, 'Eve, vi, vee, eevee, eve', and the reply had to sound of bragging.

Yarrow's eyes narrowed and within seconds she had bowled over Sailor. They wrestled on the ground, each trying to flip the other onto their back.

"I think Sailor likes Yarrow. I've never seen another eevee that was willing to play fight with him." Yan commented lightly. "Your eevee, is it a boy or a girl? Sailor's a guy, as you might have noticed."

"A girl." Alex said nervously. Yan was only about half a foot away from her, and she felt horribly self-conscious. She was wearing stupid clothes, she had slept on the ground, and she wasn't even in her own body.

They watched the two eevees for a while. It seemed as though Sailor was winning; he managed to flip Yarrow on her back more but suddenly Yarrow had flipped him over and after pinning him there for a few seconds she delicately stepped off him and sauntered over to Alex.

Yan laughed.

"I think she beat him."

It looked as though that was true. Sailor's ears were down as he walked slowly over to Yan.

"Alex…why don't we travel together? Just to Rivertimed City. It's a beautiful place. Everyone should see it once in their lifetime." Yan said, seemingly completely at ease with this idea. "It's only around two weeks from here."

"I…don't have that much food. And I don't have a sleeping bag." Alex replied quietly.

"We'll work something out. Don't worry."

"Okay." Alex said with a small smile. She felt like she had forgotten something though...what was it?

"Eve?"

Alex felt shamed. She had completely forgotten about Yarrow, just because she had a crush.

"If it's okay with Yarrow. It is, right?" she asked, turning to Yarrow. Yarrow nodded, not seeming offended she hadn't asked before.

"I'd ask Sailor's opinion, but I'm sure he's happy to be spending a few weeks with some pretty ladies." Yan offered with a kind smile that turned it from flirting into a compliment.

Alex ducked her head, and tried not to think about it, but Yarrow looked rather pleased.

Alex could safely say the two weeks she spent traveling with Yan were some of the best in her life. He was kind, and he taught her without viewing it as a chore.

Alex found out that her food, while possible to be eaten, was not the best to take when traveling. Good foods were fast cooking rice, dried noodles that became actual noodles with just water, and a few strips of dried meant. It was also good to have a plant notebook around to see which foods could be added to your soup or stir-fry and which could be eaten as snacks. Yan gave Alex his, stating that it'd be easy to find another one. It was also good to have a frying pan, a pot, a spoon and some waterproof matches. Alex bought all but the frying pan in a town they passed.

Yan also told her that having a tent was pointless. It was supposed to be protection from wild pokemon but if one attacked you ended up tangled in it. Yan recounted his own experience of that with a sheepish smile. So he suggested having a tarp to keep the rain off, a sleeping bag for obvious reasons, and an air mattress because it made it far easier to sleep on the ground. Alex listened to this religiously and mentally took notes.

The last reason Alex loved the two weeks she spent with Yan was because he was such a good traveling companion. Aside from helping her, he spent some time complimenting her on her 'kind nature' and 'cute looks'. Alex thought her was just being kind to her, but liked it nonetheless. He never hinted at battling Yarrow and Sailor, and seemed content to simply watch them play fight. Sometimes he'd let out his other pokemon, a Beedrill and a Wooper. Both of them seemed to love him, and he cared about his pokemon. Yarrow was happy playing with Sailor, who had more energy than she did, which Alex didn't think possible before.

By the time they had reached Rivertimed City Alex had also gained a love for scenery. Yan had pointed out all the views of forests and mountains and told her about all the cities he'd visited. Apparently he had been to Rivertimed before and told her it was a sight to see, but no more. He said that would spoil it.

Alex didn't know how it was possible to spoil it. Rivertimed City was beautiful. It was built into a loop of a large river, and some of the city even stretched into the water. It was large, and filled with whimsical houses and statues and marketplaces that were filled with strange spices, sparkling stones, rich food and beautiful clothes. If Alex had had any money, it would have been spent in seconds.

Yan took a day to guide her around. The city had eighteen pokemon centers, and Alex chose the one closest to the markets. She was suitably awed when Yan told her this wasn't even the biggest city he'd seen, though he thought it did have the best marketplace.

Yarrow pranced between the stalls, and around people's feet, always going back to Alex every five minutes. She seemed just as excited about Rivertimed City as Alex was, but didn't seem to have as much awe of it. When Alex pointed this out, Yan laughed and said Yarrow had probably lived in a bigger city than this one when she was a baby.

Yan took her to the riverside at sunset, and Alex dipped her feet into the water as the sun sank, a mess of orange and red and pink.

Then Yan escorted her back to the pokemon center she had chosen, given her a light hug, and walked away while waving goodbye. Alex waved until he was out of sight, and then went to bed. She was looking forward to having a real bed to sleep on. That night, Alex thought being a pokemon trainer might be okay in the long run.


	7. Chapter 7

The next day she ate breakfast at the pokemon center, and then went to check out the market again. She and Yarrow enjoyed seeing all the different types of food, Yarrow managing to wrangle a bite or two from kindhearted stall owners. Alex wandered around. Now that Yan was gone, she really didn't know what she wanted to do. There was plenty of time until her next gym battle, and she had no particular goal in mind. Rivertimed seemed like a nice place to stay, but she wasn't sure how she'd get money. Alex had only been in two real battles, one she had lost, the other she had barely won and had more to do with Yarrow's abilities than her own. She hadn't trained at all, preferring to just avoid wild pokemon if possible. Alex didn't like the idea of training either. She hated seeing Yarrow hurt, and Yarrow dying continued to haunt her dreams. She wished there was a way to make Yarrow stronger without training her.

These were the thoughts that were in Alex's mind when a girl yelled 'Wanna have a battle?' at her while she was walking through out near the edge of town. Alex had heard a few challenges like that, probably because Yarrow ran around her feet, but she had turned them all down.

This time when she turned the trainer down, the girl shrugged and threw out a pokeball, catching it deftly as her eevee landed on the ground.

"Quick attack the girl, eevee."

Alex gasped, not believing that command. It couldn't be allowed, could it?

Whether it was allowed or not, Alex was still knocked over by the eevee, falling on her hands and wincing as they scraped against the ground.

Yarrow was furious, and didn't wait for any attack to be ordered, simply launching herself at the other eevee.

Alex tried to watch the battle, but it all became a blur of brown and 'Tackle', 'Quick Attack' and 'Bite'.

When it was finally over, and it felt like eternity, Yarrow was on the ground with a misshapen leg and bleeding heavily. She was trying to get up, but obviously couldn't. Alex began to cry. She stood up and stumbled over to Yarrow.

"Your money." Sighed the girl, obviously uncaring. "Half of it, in case you didn't know."

Alex reached down and gently picked Yarrow up, resisting the urge to throw up at the sight of blood.

The girl sighed again.

"She'll be fine. Pokemon heal fast, don't you know that?"

Alex vaguely wondered how she knew Yarrow was a girl, but it was pushed aside by more pressing thoughts.

"Do you want me to carry you, or put you in a pokeball?" Alex asked Yarrow quietly, somehow afraid talking would hurt her.

"Eevee." Replied Yarrow faintly, pushing just a bit closer to Alex.

"Money, come on kid."

"I don't have any." Alex said slowly, having to think about these words. It wasn't completely true; Alex did have a bit of spare change. But it was extremely meager, and she didn't think this trainer would care for half of it.

"Waste of time." Muttered the girl under her breath, turning around and leaving. Her eevee seemed to want to go over to Yarrow and Alex, but she called it as she walked away and it followed.

Alex took Yarrow to the hospital and listened to a kindly nurse explain that Yarrow would be perfectly fine, eevees were sturdy, she'd just need a few days all wrapped up, and that Alex should get some sleep.

Alex did as she suggested, only to have awful dreams of Yarrow dying in the hospital room. After two of these, she gave up sleeping and went to visit Yarrow.

Almost all of Yarrow's body was covered in white bandages, and she was sleeping peacefully. Seeing this Alex felt so much guilt she could drown in it. She supposed other trainers would have been angry, but it was her fault, wasn't it? She had let the other trainer do this, she hadn't given Yarrow orders, she hadn't trained Yarrow. If she had, maybe she would have been a little bit angry, but not at Yarrow, at the world. She couldn't see how anyone would be angry when Yarrow tried so hard to stand even when she was so badly hurt. Alex shifted her eyes to the pokemon beside Yarrow to avoid thinking about it.

This pokemon was an ekans, though it was hard to tell with the bandages wrapped all over it. It seemed to be awake; its eyes were open. Alex didn't know that much about ekans though, except that they were a lot like snakes, which she didn't like.

This one had to be bored, and Alex felt pity for it. She reached out a hand to gently touched the ekans scaled head, becoming braver when it made no movement. She gently stroked cool scaly skin, liking the feel of it almost as much as Yarrow's fur.

"Hey." She whispered. "You must be bored."

The ekans didn't reply, so she sat patting it a while longer and then left the center, confident at least that Yarrow was okay.

She went back to bed and didn't have any nightmares this time.

########

Down in the healing ward, the ekans and Yarrow talked.

"See, I told you Alex would pat you if she thought I was asleep." Yarrow said smugly.

"Yeah, yeah, so you know your trainer well. Great for you." Replied the ekans in a sarcastic but obviously female voice.

"You started it." Yarrow said, making it a fact instead of a taunt.

The ekans dipped her head, and the conversation was dropped. They both did need to sleep after all.

######

The next day Alex woke up very early, stopped to check in on a sleeping Yarrow, and decided what she was going to do that day while eating her breakfast.

She was going to find a job. There were two reasons for this. One, she needed money, and two, she should do something while Yarrow was in the hospital. She didn't admit this might have something to do with the shame that came with seeing Yarrow.

It wasn't surprising that she found one because most people trusted that kids who were pokemon trainers were at least smart enough to convince their parents to allow them to wander around alone. It was surprising that she found one that worked well for her and paid well, but Alex supposed the universe owed her some good luck. To be fair, she still has to find the place and interview for it, but Alex hoped it wouldn't be that hard.

"So, another interviewee. And you are?" the woman who had introduced herself as Trista asked in a way that made it clear she wanted Alex's full name.

"Alexandra Wood. Alex." Alex replied, feeling rather timid now that she had finally gotten there.

"Well, Alex, do you know what we do here?"

Alex shook her head.

"This is the Rivertimed Center for abandoned and abused pokemon. You have to be good with the pokemon to work here, even if it's only for a couple of days. You do know that this is only for three days, right?"

Alex nodded, thinking it was best if she stuck to non-verbal answers.

"Good. Now you should come and meet the pokemon. It's really their choice." Trista said, striding over to a door that led outside. Alex followed her feeling more than a little nervous.

Trista opened the door and whistled loudly. A colourful assortment of pokemon moved towards her, none going ahead of the others and all moving very slowly.

"Now, everything's okay. This is Alex, she might be working with us, there's nothing wrong." Trista soothed, and the pokemon moved a little closer. One broke free of the pack, an Umberon that limped slightly. He walked forward with a proud tilt of his head and settled into a spot only a foot away from Alex.

Trista chuckled.

"That's our Darkness. He refuses to be scared of anything. Try patting him, he'll only move if he doesn't like you."

Alex reached out to touch the black pelt and tried a shaky smile. Darkness allowed her to touch his pelt, which was as smooth as velvet with an air of carelessness. He seemed to be saying, 'This pathetic little girl? She couldn't hurt a Iggybuff if she tried.'

The other pokemon moved closer upon seeing that Darkness was being treated gently, and eventually Alex had a small crowd of pokemon gathered around her, softly touching her or just staring. She said nothing at all, not wanting to scare them away.

Trista didn't seem to fear speaking however.

"Well, they seem to like you, even Darkness. I guess you're in. You start right now. Go inside and get the blue and red bag of pokemon food in the room on the left." Trista said, gesturing vaguely in that direction.

Alex nodded and carefully stood up to do so.


	8. Chapter 8

She spent three days with Trista and the pokemon, visiting Yarrow only in the morning and before she went to sleep. Sometimes Yarrow would be awake, but sometimes she wasn't, and in those cases Alex simply patted her once and left.

She enjoyed working with the abused and abandoned pokemon, and was paid well for it. Trista said that it was the most donated to charity, mainly because a lot of people felt guilty about it.

Alex had favorites in the pokemon as well, though she tried not to show it. She had taken a liking to Darkness very quickly, and he seemed to put up with her. She also liked a little pikachu named Zap, who greeted her cheerfully with a small shock everyday.

Alex learned about types differences and different types of pokemon while she worked. Trista was a chatty person and she knew a lot about pokemon, so Alex soon learned the basics of pokemon fighting.

When she mentioned she'd love to take a few of the pokemon, Trista smiled gently and said that she didn't think they should be given to a new trainer, but if Alex came back after her eevee evolved, she could take one with her. Alex wondered if Yarrow would evolve.

When she left, Trista gave her a bonus for 'being so good with the pokemon'. Alex was surprised, but knew she needed the money and took it with a soft 'thank you'.

Alex used the money to buy a beaten up frying pan, a tarp, an old sleeping bag, an air mattress, and an air pump. She also bought a pair of comfortable and sturdy boots, because sometimes she needed more than sneakers. Aside from some food, and a blue long sleeved shirt, her last purchase was a thick heavy coat coloured a purple that was so dark it was almost black. Alex loved it, even though it was far too big for her. Her backpack was about half full.

She gave Yarrow two of the blue berries that she had found in her little bag after reading that they were good for pokemon. The last one she gave to the ekans, feeling sorry for it.

When Yarrow was released, Alex was advised by the nurse to take it easy with the little pokemon for a day or two. So Alex took two days to simply walk around town with Yarrow and buy Yarrow the foods she liked with the last bit of her money. Whenever they were tired, Alex would sit down on one of the beautifully patterned benches that seemed to be everywhere, open a book she borrowed from the pokemon center, and attempt to teach Yarrow to read.

At the end of the two days, Yarrow still couldn't really read, but she knew words like 'pokemon' and 'eevee'.

Alex woke up after those days to gossip. Everyone was talking about how the rare pokemon that swam in from the sea were going to be there. Of course, that wasn't the main reason everyone was so excited. The real reason was because many famous trainers would come to catch them. The names Alex heard most often were Arcti Alofne and Sult Fond. These names were mostly said by teenage girls in groups while giggling.

It didn't change Alex's plans. She knew she had to train Yarrow now. They went up into the mountains every day to fight wild pokemon, they came back beaten as often as not, and Yarrow was always hurt in some way. This never made Yarrow afraid to go back, but some days she lead Alex there, when Alex didn't want to go.

They were coming back from one of those days when they were attacked in a mostly empty street. Alex saw a flash of yellow before her legs were pushed out from under her, forcing her to land on her knees. She looked up at the pokemon who had knocked her down, absently noticing that all the people who had been on the street were quickly leaving. It was a jolteon, and the way it was grinning made her want to run. Alex checked to make sure Yarrow was behind her. She saw the little eevee with her ears down, but unhurt save for the twisted ankle she had gotten earlier in the day. Slowly Alex began to stand up, keeping her eyes on Yarrow, knowing that if she turned them back to the jolteon she'd be too scare"d to run.

"Don't they teach kids anything? Stay down, little girl, and maybe I won't hurt you very much." Ordered a firm male voice.

Shaking from fear, Alex obeyed.

"I'm surprised no one had taken that creature from you before, with you being such a coward. Guess it's my lucky day. Put the eevee in her pokeball, then throw it to me. And we'll leave. Maybe we'll take you with us for a while, before dumping you off a cliff." The voice taunted. Alex was certain she was going to die, no matter what she did. The knowledge made her hands shake as she opened a zipper on her bag and pulled out a pokeball.

"It's okay, I've got all day. No one's stupid enough to try and rescue you."

Alex looked towards Yarrow, but couldn't see her because of the tears obscuring her vision. She was going to die, and Yarrow would be taken away by this man, and she couldn't do anything about it.

"I'm sorry Yarrow." She said, not noticing or caring how loud it was said.

"Touching." Commented the voice. "Any other last goodbyes you want to say?"

Alex began to sob, shaking her head.

"This is pointless." Said a different, colder, younger voice. "Glaceon, ice beam."

Alex didn't think about it. She had accepted it in small part of her mind; she was going to die, she was already dead, she just got a few extra days. But Yarrow was alive, and right beside her. She threw her body over the eevee, praying that she wouldn't crush Yarrow even as the ice froze her around her. The only warmth Alex could feel was from the pokemon under her chest.

Yarrow slithered out from under her frozen body and stood in a protective stance in front of her, yelping. Alex wanted to yell at her to run, but she didn't think it would help. She slowly realized, through listening to Yarrow's barking, that she wasn't completely frozen.

As she realized this a pale white hand reached down and touched her head gently.

"You are alive." It was the same cold voice that had ordered the ice beam. "Why?"

There was no curiosity in the voice, and Alex had to think about the question for a while to answer it. The icy cold around her body was good for distracting her thoughts.

"I…was lucky." She managed to whisper out at last. It wasn't the most complete answer, but it explained why she wasn't dead.

"No. You moved. Why?" asked the voice again, without a trace of annoyance for having to repeat the question.

Alex didn't want to answer; it was hard to think. She did so anyway, telling herself that this would be the last time.

"To protect…Yarrow."

The hand lifted from her head, and Alex let herself drift away, only half registering the order of 'Glaceon, melt the ice'.

Alex's memory was a bit fuzzy after that, but she remembered her chin hitting the ground with a sharp crack when the ice melted around her. Her thoughts flickered back to life, woken up by the stinging pain. Again an almost white hand came into her view, reaching under her chin and pushing it up so that she could see the person who had ordered her frozen.

Alex's first thought was that he looked like ice. His hair was so light blond it was white and his eyes were a cold blue.

Alex's second thought was that he couldn't be more than four years older than her, at the most.

"Why did you protect your pokemon when you could have protected yourself? Why did your eevee stay with you instead of running?" he asked.

"I…don't know about Yarrow, but I did it because I didn't want to see her hurt." Alex replied carefully. She wasn't sure what he wanted from her or why he had unfrozen her.

"Did you know this could happen?" he continued.

"Yes." Admitted Alex softly, remembering what Rina had told her.

"Then, why did you become a pokemon trainer?"

"I had nothing else." Alex said, realizing just how true that was.

He stared at her, meeting her eyes with his own. Alex wondered how hazel eyes red from crying could interest him in any way.

He turned away and faced a dark shape nearby. For the first time Alex saw his pokemon, an elegant glaceon who looked as though its fur wouldn't move in a tornado.

"Give the eevee to the girl." He said, without acting like it meant anything to him.

The shape moved, and then spoke.

"Why? She's just gonna get it taken away by someone else." It was the first voice, the one who has scared Alex so much.

"She won't."

"Why not?"

"She will be under my protection."

Alex, who had shifted to a sitting position, looked up at him in shock.

The other voice didn't seem very shocked however.

"What, you like her? Think she's cute?"

As he spoke he moved and a red and white pokeball was thrown near Alex, who didn't catch it and had to scramble to grab it. She immediately pressed the button to open it and with a flash of white light Yarrow appeared.

"Eve! Vee!" Yarrow said before launching herself into Alex's lap, ignoring the fact that she was wet and cold. Alex reached down and hugged her.

The white haired boy glanced down at this scene, then turned back to the man who was already walking away, a flash of yellow peeping out from under his cloak occasionally.

"No. I find her interesting." Was his reply.

His only reply was a laugh.

He looked around, and started to walk away in a different direction, his glaceon following without an order.

Alex blinked, and called out to him before he could leave the street.

"Wait. What's your name?"

"Arcti."

Alex could feel the shock spread through her system at that name, but retained some sense of basic courtesy.

"I'm Alex." She yelled as he left the street. Then she wondered if she had truly yelled, and decided she couldn't have. Wouldn't have.


	9. Chapter 9

Alex found her way to the nearest pokemon center, and was quickly wrapped up in warm blankets. She fell asleep easily, with Yarrow curled up beside her.

The next day she had time to think about it all. Alex wasn't sure why Arcti had chosen to protect her, or what about her he found interesting, or when it would end. She didn't want to depend on Arcti; she wanted to be able to protect herself. That would require training Yarrow. Since the fighting wild pokemon tactic didn't seem to be working, she'd have to find another way. Alex was thinking about this as she went back to her own pokemon center.

She went to the hospital ward to say goodbye to the ekans, as she wouldn't be visiting anymore, and was surprised to see it wasn't there. Alex looked around and spotted the nurse who had healed Yarrow the first time and who took care of her after all the wild pokemon fights, which had lasted about two weeks in all. Alex felt slightly upset that she hadn't learned the nurse's name after all of this.

"Um, hello?"

The nurse turned and smiled at her.

"Oh it's you. What did you want? Your eevee looks fine."

"I was just wondering what happened to the ekans that was here…did the trainer come?" she asked, not sure whether the snake pokemon was male of female and not wanting to say it.

"No, no. He doesn't want her anymore. He would have told us sooner, but he had been out for a camping trip for a few days. We were just going to put her down." The nurse explained kindly.

"Put her down?" Alex asked, not really feeling very shocked. In a way, she had gotten used to this. "Why?"

"Well, we can't release her, she's been in contact with humans and might try to come back to the city. Since she's poisonous, she could really hurt someone, maybe even kill a child."

"Why not give it to the Abandoned and Abused Pokemon Center?" Alex asked, curious and slightly sickened.

"We would, but her trainer said she had a nasty temper and should probably be put down." The nurse replied. "I know, I find it sad too, but there's not much I can do about it. Besides, it's probably for the best."

Alex almost nodded, but thought of the ekans. She didn't seem very big, and she never made any threatening movements when Alex had patted her.

"Vee, eevee, eve, vi, vi?" Yarrow asked from the floor. Alex wasn't sure what she was asking, but it sounded distinctly questioning.

Alex sighed, not understanding Yarrow at all.

"Could I say goodbye, maybe?" she asked.

The nurse shook her head, then explained.

"We're keeping her in her pokeball right now. We shouldn't let her out."

"Okay…" Alex said, feeling somewhat upset about it. She knew she'd just have to get used to how this world worked.

"Eevee."

Alex blinked and looked down to see a pokeball only inches from her foot and Yarrow looking pleased with herself.

She leaned down to talk to Yarrow.

"Is that the ekans pokeball?" she asked Yarrow.

Yarrow nodded. For her, it was somewhat of a test, to see who Alex was.

"Why did you give me that?" Alex asked, but she wasn't expecting an answer. Yarrow wasn't stupid, she knew Alex couldn't just open the pokeball and say goodbye.

Alex tried to understand what Yarrow meant, but gave up on it. She looked at the pokeball, looked at Yarrow, and said, "I can't keep this."

Yarrow used her foot to nudge the pokeball a bit closer to Alex until it hit her foot. The meaning was quite clear.

Alex realized that Yarrow wanted her to keep the ekans, and winced because it was so obvious.

"I'll ask." She said to Yarrow.

"Um, I…have the pokeball of the ekans here. Yarrow brought to me. I guess she didn't understand that I couldn't see the ekans." Alex said softly, then continued in a rush. "But I was wondering, if you just had to keep her away from cities, I could take her, right?"

The nurse looked at Alex, and her eyes seemed to darken with sadness. Then she smiled, and said, "Of course you can keep her. I'll fill out the forms right now."

The nurse left Alex and Yarrow alone in the room, and Alex stared at the bright red and white pokeball. Then she carefully pressed the button to open it, and the ekans she had met in the hospital appeared on the floor.

"Ekans, kans, kans." She hissed, and Alex felt scared. She had never really liked snakes, but ekans was her pokemon now, so she felt she ought to say something.

"Um, hi, ekans…" she said softly, and the ekans turned her head around to look at Alex. She started to slither towards Alex, but Yarrow jumped into her way with a loud, "Eve, eevee, vee, vee, eevee, vi, vi, eve."

The ekans replied with, "Kans, ekans, ekans, kans, kans."

Alex watched as the two pokemon talked to each other. She couldn't really tell what they were talking about, but when they finished the ekans didn't move, while Yarrow bounced over to her feet.

Alex's fear fell away as the ekans stayed still, and she reached down to pat her. The only movement she made was to lift herself up so that Alex didn't have to reach so far down.

Alex smiled. It was obvious now; the ekans had just been a little confused, and Yarrow had to explain things.

"Hey." She said softly. "Do you have a name?"

The ekans shifted her head slightly to the side to say no. Alex kept on patting her through this.

"Okay, do you want one?" Alex asked, already trying to think up good names.

The head moved up and down slightly.

Alex wasn't sure what to call a snake, but she knew Yarrow's name was a type of herb. Why not use another type of herb for the ekans' name? The only one she could think of was Rosemary, and she wasn't even sure that was a herb. She asked anyway.

"Would you like to be called Rosemary?"

The little head moved up and down again, and Alex smiled down at Rosemary.

"Okay. Do you want to stay out of your pokeball? Yarrow doesn't like hers." Alex said, despite not being certain that Yarrow didn't like hers, only knowing that she preferred not being in it.

Rosemary nodded, and leaned farther up.

Alex didn't notice. She was thinking about how she could keep Rosemary out of a pokeball. Rosemary couldn't just slither around behind her like Yarrow did, because some people would probably be scared of her. They might even try to step on her.

"Rosemary, I think you should…ride on me. That way, no one wills step on you." Alex suggested.

Rosemary nodded, and began to move up Alex's arm. Her scales felt nice against Alex skin, and it took Alex a while to realize that Rosemary had loosely looped herself around her neck, and settled her head on Alex's right shoulder.

Alex stood up straight, and nearly fell over unused to the weight. But after a few steps she found it was easy to balance, and left the hospital room to go find something to eat. After eating, in which Alex had the strange experience of having food pulled from her fork by an innocent looking Rosemary, they went out to see the city. Alex was hoping that she could find the answer to her first problem, training Yarrow and now Rosemary, somewhere.

Alex felt pleased when she was avoided because of Rosemary wrapped around her. It was almost amusing how they looked at her, gave a nervous smile, and then made sure not to pass within a foot of her.

After walking a while with no answers coming to her, Alex sat down and looked at the sky. She had two pokemon now, and it was really all that trainer girl's fault. Alex actually thought she was a pretty good trainer, if not the kindest. Did she have a big sister who taught her everything? Did trainers even teach other trainers?

Alex blinked, smiled, and stood up. She knew what she was going to do now.

Alex walked around the edges of town, the place most likely to have pokemon battles. It took a while, but all Alex had to do was follow the raised voices. She found the girl who had beaten her having some money thrust in her hand by a boy who looked older than her, and angry.

"Mono's sister, right? He's useless, you know. What' your name, Mimi?" mumbled the kid as he walked away.

"It's Angel, actually." She called after him, but he made no reply that Alex could hear.

Then she turned and looked at Alex, who had been very quiet.

"You're that kid. Beat you about three weeks ago. What, do you want a rematch?" Angel asked, her eyes flickering to Rosemary.

Alex shook her head, and then pulled up her courage to say, "No, I want you to teach me."

Angel threw back her head and laughed. The hood she had been wearing fell off, revealing long, tangled black hair. When Angel's green eyes turned back to Alex, she felt as though she was standing in front of that jolteon again.

"Why would I do that?" she asked, smiling and showing all her teeth. "Do you think I'd help you? For nothing?"

Alex hadn't actually thought about that, but now that it was presented to her it was an obvious flaw in her plan. She thought about it for a few minutes while Angel simply watched her, finally coming up with something Angel might like.


	10. Chapter 10

Alex fidgeted. She had her idea, but now it seemed too bold. If she didn't say it, she wouldn't be able to train Yarrow and Rosemary, so she had to say it, but she didn't want to.

"I, um, don't. What I meant was, you train me in the mornings, or anytime you want, and whatever I win from battling, I give to you. I mean, most of it." Alex said, stumbling over her words.

Angel's stare seem far more approving that it had before.

"So, I get money from your battles for training you. And that way, if I don't train you well, I don't get very much money. Clever." Angel said, then turned to look at the sky.

"I…Angel? What…what's your answer?" Alex asked, her throat dry. She felt very out of place with this girl who was better than her at everything, seemingly.

Angel looked back at her.

"Hmm? Well…I guess it's something to do. Meet me here tomorrow at, six. In the morning." Angel said as though she wasn't really thinking about it. "Now scat. I want to be alone."

Alex nodded, but Angel had turned to look at the sky again and didn't notice, so she left.

Alex wasn't sure if she should be happy or terrified that Angel had agreed to help her. She settled for being uneasy, and let Rosemary eat all her food at supper.

###

Alex made sure to get up early and show up at the edge of town. Angel wasn't there, so she paced and waited for about half an hour until she showed up, munching on a bagel.

"Huh. So maybe you're serious about this. Time to start." Angel said, finishing off the last of her bagel.

Alex spent the entire day with Angel, aside from food and bathroom breaks. The day was grueling, for both Alex and her pokemon. Angel believed in training with your pokemon, and it showed. She had no trouble keeping up with her eevee, which Alex found out was male and named Daemon.

Alex followed all of Angel's instructions with a soft determination, while Yarrow seemed to revel in the harsh training. Rosemary hated it, and Alex often had to coax her to keep on going.

At the end of the day, Angel dismissed them, and told them to come back the next day. She trained them every day from the sun's rising to the sun's setting for a week.

Yarrow learned quick attack from Daemon. Rosemary stopped being lazy about training, though she still didn't like it. She made it obvious by trying to destroy the alarm clock several times and avoiding Angel as though she was a disease.

Angel discovered that Alex wasn't 'an idiot, just shy' when Angel explained that eevees could learn moves like thunderbolt if they liked their trainers enough and Alex had said knowing thunderbolt would be useful for a leafeon, or any eevee evolution other than jolteon.

Alex had a talk with Angel about giving her pokemon orders.

"I'm…not very good at it. Can't I just let them work on their own?" Alex asked quietly. She was feeling more assured with Angel now, since she had observed that the older girl was tough but mostly fair and never yelled.

"No. Look, I'm not saying your pokemon aren't smart. But when they fight, they don't see everything. They're too busy fighting. Sometimes they'll miss a good attack chance, or an attack that will hit them. You have to watch for that." Angel explained. "Haven't you ever given your pokemon orders before?"

"Yes, but…never to attack." Alex said, looking down.

"You'll learn. My advice is to tell them to attack if they don't seem to know what to do. Pokemon battles aren't completely dependant on the pokemon, you know."

Alex wasn't sure how to say that she thought she'd be more of a hindrance than a help, so she just nodded and the conversation was dropped.

Her first battle was on a sunny day with someone Angel called 'Rich Boy Winston'. Angel seemed to think he'd be a good first test for her.

"He started the same time as you, he's rich, and he's stupid. Well, not that stupid. He won't battle me anymore, but you look innocent and if you just barely win, he might agree to battle you again."

Alex wasn't concerned that most of her teacher's thoughts were about money. She had gotten used to it.

"What if he hurts my pokemon?" Alex asked matter-of-factly. She wasn't as worried about it as before, but she still didn't want to see Yarrow or Rosemary hurt.

Angel rolled her eyes, acting as though she was annoyed with Alex's childish attitude.

"He won't. It's against the trainer rules to really hurt someone else's pokemon on purpose."

Alex frowned, remembering when she had first met Angel.

"But you did."

Angel waved a hand elegantly at her.

"I was in a bad mood."

Alex knew that was all the explanation she would get, so she nodded and took small steps until she was beside Winston.

"Um, hi. Would…you like a battle with me?" Alex asked softly.

He turned to the side to look at her face. After studying her for a few seconds, he said, "I suppose I can spend some of my time battling you."

It sounded as though he thought having any of his time was a great honor, and Alex found herself wanting to slip away. She hated dealing with people like this.

"Okay, so, one against one?" Alex asked, her voice turning quiet. She really didn't want to be there.

Winston sighed and shook his head.

"Peasants. Don't you know the one being asked sets the terms? And I'll choose two on two, thank you." He said officially. "Now, please stand ten feet away from me."

Alex tried to stand ten feet away, staying a bit farther back out of caution.

Winston threw up a pokeball with a cry of 'Go Flame.'

Flame turned out to be a Growlithe, and Alex swallowed. Flame's teeth looked sharp, but she leaned down to the ground and let Rosemary slide off her shoulder and onto the pavement. She whispered 'Try the strategy you use on Yarrow in practice session.'

"You can't be serious. This will be easy." Winston said, and Alex resisted the urge to grab Rosemary and run.

"Flame, ember!"

Alex stayed quiet, not thinking Rosemary would need an instruction to dodge. She didn't, and became a purple blur of movement.

The purple blur on the pavement turned back into Rosemary as she wrapped around Flame.

Alex let out a soft sigh of relief. This had always worked well enough in practice, but for some reason she thought Rosemary might not move fast enough in a battle.

After that the battle was boring, consisting mostly of Rosemary wrapping around Flame tighter, and Flame trying to get her off. However, Flame's orders were things like 'Roll over' and 'Jump', so it didn't work very well.

Flame fainted about two minutes into the wrap, and Rosemary slithered over to a spot in front of Alex.

Alex wondered if this was how battles were supposed to go when Winston threw out his next pokemon, an eevee named King.

This battle didn't last long either; it was clear that King was too fast for Rosemary to catch and King only hit her a few times before her head hit the ground with a noise that made Alex wince, and she used Rosemary's pokeball to call her back.

Then she looked to Yarrow who had been sitting quietly at her feet the entire battle. Yarrow didn't appear to need more than that look, and trotted out into the 'battlefield'.

"Tackle!" Winston yelled, but Yarrow dodged it easily since King hadn't been in a good attacking position.

"Tackle again."

Alex tuned out Winston's voice and focused on the way King moved. Yarrow was clearly holding her own, but she wasn't winning. King was fast, Alex noticed, almost too fast. Yarrow had more grace on her feet and didn't make such headlong dashes. Yarrow might be able to lure him into a position to hit the wall if he didn't hit her. Now Alex's only problem was how to tell Yarrow that without letting Winston know her plan. Alex wasn't sure Winston would or could do anything about it, but she would prefer him not to know regardless. Angel had said he was stupid.

"Yarrow, there's a concrete wall behind you. And King's too fast." Alex called out, knowing it was somewhat obvious, but hoping Winston would be distracted by the 'compliment'.

He was.

"King's the fastest." He bragged, and Alex felt a little sorry for him. It couldn't have been easy to be beaten by Angel.

Yarrow responded in a different way. It was subtle, but each of her dodges took her closer to the wall. When she was within two feet of it she waited calmly for King's next attack. When it came, she dodged it, and King hit the wall with a thud.

King didn't faint, and watching the woozy eevee Alex knew he would get back up and wouldn't fall for that trick again.

"Quick attack."

Alex's voice was surprisingly calm, considering how much it had taken for her to order the attack.

Yarrow obeyed, and King fell to the ground, this time staying down.

Alex turned to Winston, who looked shocked and upset. He almost seemed as though he was going to cry.

"I think…"Alex said carefully. "That means I won."


	11. Chapter 11

Alex settled into a routine. She would wake up, eat and feed her pokemon, do some warm ups, and battle until lunchtime. After lunch, she would train until supper, and then she would go eat supper, do some warm downs, and go to bed.

Yarrow still curled up beside her, or if Alex slept on her back or stomach, on top of her. Rosemary preferred to stretch out at the end of the bed. Since Alex was small and slept with her knees bent, Rosemary had lots of space.

Their battles were often won, but sometimes they lost. Since Alex gave all the money she had to Angel and got back 'her share' at the end of the day, this wasn't much of a problem.

The only day they took a break was Sunday, when both Yarrow and Rosemary were allowed freedom to do what they wished as Alex and Angel talked. Generally they went in different directions, but on the third Sunday since training with Angel, Yarrow wanted to have a talk with Rosemary.

"Do you agree that's she's better than your old trainer now?" Yarrow asked.

"Not really. All trainers are the same. This one's just a bit softer." Rosemary replied casually.

"No, she's different. Alex is special." Yarrow argued, remembering how Alex had tried to protect her.

"That's what all the pokemon say." Rosemary hissed with a touch of amusement. "If I killed her, I wonder if you would become normal again?"

Yarrow's eyes flashed.

"I'd never let you hurt Alex. Never." She growled, almost wanting to pounce on the ekans and bite her neck.

"It was a joke. I don't hate her that much." Rosemary said, slightly unnerved by Yarrow's reaction, but hiding it. "You love Alex that much, why not evolve?"

Yarrow was shocked out of her anger.

"What? What do you mean, Rose?"

Rosemary made a noise that in another pokemon would have been a sigh, and said, "You don't need a stone or to be in a certain place to evolve into an Espeon or a Umbreon. All you have to do is love your trainer. You do, so why don't you evolve? You'd be stronger for Alex, and you'd evolve. I don't see why you haven't yet."

Yarrow looked away.

"You will see that Alex is special someday. I know you like to go try to find interesting things in trash cans." Yarrow said, clearly wanting to be alone.

Rosemary didn't like the eevee's fierce love for her trainer, but she didn't mind Yarrow, almost considering her a friend.

"I'll be going then." Rosemary said as she moved away.

Yarrow nodded but stared at the wall. It was concrete, like the one King had smashed into.

Yarrow knew most pokemon wanted to evolve. It made them stronger, and sometimes more beautiful. Eevees were different. Other pokemon had no risk in evolving, not really. They might change, but it wouldn't be…wrong. Eevees could evolve into the wrong pokemon. Every eevee mother explained to her children that they shouldn't evolve until they knew for sure what they wanted to be. If they picked the wrong evolution for them, they would be stuck in it for the rest of their lives. There was no going back, and they would be miserable. Sometimes, if one was around, the mother would show her children a 'wrong one'.

Yarrow remembered the wrong one she had been shown. He was a jolteon but he never ran around flashing sparks like they did. His bright yellow colour was somehow duller than the other jolteons, and he hated performing electric attacks. Yarrow had been the one of her siblings to ask what he wanted to be. And he had smiled a broken smile and whispered 'Flareon'. Yarrow didn't ever go to see him after that.

Yarrow didn't want to be like that, not for anyone, even Alex. It was the most terrifying thing that could happen to an eevee. Yarrow knew she'd have to choose the right evolution, and she didn't know if being an Espeon or Umbreon was right for her. All Yarrow knew was that being a Flareon wasn't for her; she could never stand not swimming again. She also knew she didn't want to be a Jolteon, since the 'wrong one' bothered her still. That still left Yarrow with five choices, all of which sounded fine to her.

She would like to be a Vaporeon, like her mother. Yarrow loved playing in the water. But she wouldn't mind being a Leafeon either, though she didn't know much about grass pokemon. An Umbreon, master of the night, was interesting. So was Espeon, the daylight and physic eevee. Yarrow had always loved playing in the snow, so Glaceon was good.

Right now, Yarrow didn't see anything wrong with any of them, but she didn't dare try to evolve. She couldn't not until she was certain.

Yarrow stayed there trying to find a reason that one of the five evolutions she considered was wrong for her. She hadn't found any reasons when she heard Alex's voice calling for her and ran to her.

#######

Alex spent one week and five months in Rivertimed City, battling. She learned how to take advantage of the other pokemon's weakness and her orders, while still uncommon, were calm and loud enough for her pokemon to hear. She left Rivertimed when she had enough money to buy a cell phone. Alex bought a white cell phone with the cheapest rates, and attached it to a chain she also bought around her neck. She packed up all her things, said goodbye to the nice nurse whose name she still hadn't gotten, and went to find Angel.

"So, you're packed up. Guess this means you're leaving, right kid?" Angel said when she saw Alex.

Alex nodded and smiled slightly. She had grown fond of her teacher, even if she refused to tell Alex anything about her life at all.

"You know where you're going?" Angel asked sounding somewhat interested in the answer.

"Yes." Said Alex. She had looked up the biggest city, Leaf-falling. Yan had told her it was beautiful in the fall and Alex thought she might find someone who could help her find Rina there. Alex needed to find out how Rina knew the person whose body she had.

"I don't ask for help much." Angel said, startling Alex who had expected a goodbye.

Alex shook her head, choosing not to say that Angel had never asked for help.

"My family wants me to come home. Home's Pihs Island, by the way. They don't think I'm much good as a pokemon trainer." Angel said, the last words gaining a bitter touch.

Alex had a hard time believing that. Angel could beat almost anyone in Rivertimed City, and even the ones who beat her said she was very good.

"I have to go home. You…I need you to come with me, Alex." Angel said, saying Alex's name for the first time. "I'll pay for the ferry."

Alex was surprised, and she wasn't sure if it was more at Angel's offering to pay for anything or being asked to go.

She went for the easier one.

"You never pay for anything." Alex pointed out.

"I'm not paying for this either; it's my family's money, so I don't care about it." Angel replied.

Alex thought that was a bit strange, because wasn't your family's money your own? But she didn't anything about that, choosing to ask about the second reason for her surprise.

"Why do you want me to go with you?"

"I want to show them how good you are, since I taught you. I…" Angel trailed off, another first in Alex's history with her. "Maybe I'll tell them you're my girlfriend."

Alex knew enough not to take that seriously, but she still blushed a bit. Angel liked teasing her, but she normally didn't take it that far. Alex wondered about that, and studied her. Angel was wearing the newest clothes, her hair was tied back, and she was tapping her foot on the ground. Daemon was in his pokeball, though Angel often let him out when she felt it was safe.

Alex realized that she didn't feel safe. Angel's foot was tapping, and she never did that. She had teased Alex more than usual, as though to hide something. And Daemon wasn't out. Now that Alex looked for it, she could see it; Angel was scared.

Alex still didn't know why Angel was inviting her along until she thought about it. If Angel was scared, she'd want a friend with her. Angel hadn't made any friends in Rivertimed, and Alex had learned that she never left the city. Alex was the closest thing to a friend she had, and Angel was scared. Alex made her choice. She would apologize to Yarrow and Rosemary later for making a decision without them.

"Okay, I'll go. When's the ferry picking us up?" Alex asked curiously.

Angel smiled, showing even white teeth.

"In ten minutes, kid. We should get going. You won't regret this. You can even get a gym badge there." Angel said, grabbing Alex's hand and towing her along. Alex realized this was the closest she had seen Angel come to babbling, and just smiled.


	12. Chapter 12

They missed the ferry by about two minutes but Angel didn't seem that bothered about it, saying that there was a little town a ways down the river that they could catch a ferry at.

As Alex walked down the sandy beach towards the town she wondered if Angel had planned missing the ferry. Angel was intelligent and careful and made sure to plan everything out well. However, Angel didn't appear to think this trip was her plan and delighted in messing up other people's plans. Angel was also good at lying, so Alex gave up on the question because it was making her head hurt. She supposed it didn't matter; after all she was here only as Angel's friend.

She glanced over to see Yarrow playing in the water, happily soaking herself in the waves. Yarrow seemed to truly enjoy it and Alex wondered if she might be a Vaporeon when she evolved. Alex had set Rosemary on the warm sand since there were no people around who would complain or step on her. The ekans seemed to be happy to slide along the warm sand and kept up with them easily.

"Hey, Angel, that little town…what's it like?" Alex asked curiously, without the normal nervousness in her voice. She felt safe under the sun with only her pokemon and a friend.

#####

Angel looked back at Alex, using a hand to delicately gather the strands of hair that flew into her face with the motion. The girl she was beginning to think of as her apprentice seemed far more cheerful than Angel had ever seen her before. Perhaps the city was bad for her.

"It's in an interesting place. You'll like it, kid. But you might be a bit scared." Angel said with a bright smile. She watched as Alex nodded, privately thinking the girl would be scared of pretty much anything and that it was surprising she wasn't scared of the beach. Angel didn't understand how Alex could find so much to be afraid of. Still, she liked the kid, for all her fears and quietness. She was actually pretty good at battling, and very kind and somewhat obedient. Angel had a feeling that Alex was keeping secrets from her, secrets that meant something, not secrets like 'I wet my bed 'til I was ten.' That was the only part of Alex Angel hated. She hated that Alex kept secrets so well, and secrets that seemed to have the tint of adventure to them, and she hated that because she wanted it.

Angel glanced back again, seeing Alex watching Yarrow and looking perfectly content with life. Angel smiled, pleased that Alex would keep her secrets too, at least.

#####

When they came to the small town, which Alex learned was named Sanctuary, Alex wasn't sure what the stones all around it were. Then she saw a ghost pokemon and realized they were gravestones.

"Y-yarrow…" she whispered, feeling suddenly cold. Yarrow appeared beside as if by magic, but Angel brushed a hand towards the ghost before Alex could get up the nerve to order Yarrow to bite it.

Alex gasped, but the ghost pokemon, haunter she remember now, simply looked annoyed and floated away.

"I told you you'd be a little scared. Don't worry, they're harmless. Good even." Angel said, breaking whatever fear was left in Alex.

"Oh, okay." She murmured, distracted by the town. Now that she wasn't so afraid it seemed wistful instead of terrifying. In the middle of the graveyard was a cluster of houses, while everywhere else was gray stones and long stringy grass. There were dirt paths that wandered throughout the gravestones, but nothing more.

"Come on, we take this one." Angel said, picking her way over to a path. "It'll take us to the ferry."

As they followed the path, Yarrow sticking close to Alex's side and Rosemary back around her neck, Angel began to talk.

"Want to know the town's history?" she asked, not waiting for Alex's answer. "It's like this. These group of orphaned children were running from the ones who had killed their parents. This is all in the past, they aren't here anymore. Anyway, they were running away from this group of people, criminals, called the Fire, or the Light, or something like that. And when they're running a big black Mightyena catches up with them. They think it's going to eat them, but it doesn't, it shows them this place, and then leaves. They hear the howls of the other Mightyena in the background, and run into the graveyard. When they meet the ghost pokemon they thought they die so the bravest of them, a little boy named Grace, don't ask me why, tells the ghost pokemon their story and asks if they can stay. And the pokemon let them stay, and protected them, and they've been here since, even though the Light or Fire people left a very long time ago. That's why they named this place Sanctuary."

Alex nodded, not voicing her question about where the Mightyena was from. She didn't think Angel was a very good storyteller, but she'd never say that, and besides it had taken up the time to get to the dock. Alex could see the ferry coming down the river, a bit smaller than the other one they had been planning to go on, and painted a bright orange.

When it got up to them Angel waved from the dock and it stopped to push a wooden bridge off the edge. The end of the bridge ended on the dock. Angel walked up it as soon as it hit the ground, and Yarrow followed. Alex cautiously stepped up and onto the ferry, wondering if it would break the entire time.

When she was on and the bridge pulled up by some men, she found Angel paying for tickets to ride and Yarrow curiously looking around.

Alex could see now that the ferry looked a bit old and worn, and hoped that the trip would go smoothly.

#####

For the week they had been in the river Alex enjoyed herself, letting both Yarrow and Rosemary play in the water and calling them back with her pokeball when they were done. Alex spent her time trying to learn more about the pokemon world, and managed to find out a few basics.

The pokemon world was ruled by ten men. These men were said to be fair and just, but Angel said they were just the most powerful. When one of them died, he would have named in his will a successor, and on it went. Generally the successor was family, sometimes not. There had never been a woman in the TT, the top ten, as they were known.

Arcti was very mysterious and said little about anything. He was a gym leader, the youngest on record, and liked ice pokemon. Alex didn't find this very surprising.

Angel and Alex often had fake battles, which Alex only sometimes won and even then only when she used both Rosemary and Yarrow against Daemon.

These battles stopped when they got to open sea, and so did everything else Alex did. She soon discovered that she got extremely seasick, and spent almost all her time in the small cabin she had bee given.

It was little more than a closet and had only a cot and a lamp, but Alex stayed down there almost all day, ate very little, and spent her time reading any books she could find.

She didn't bind Yarrow and Rosemary to her room with her however, telling them that they were free to go where they wished. At first Yarrow loyally stayed by her side but when she realized that Alex meant it she ended up on deck most of the time. Rosemary didn't loyally stay by her side; she just liked the warm bed and not having to do much of anything. Yarrow would come visit her for an hour four times a day, and when she was there Alex read aloud. Angel showed up about once a day, normally chatting for a minute or two before leaving. Unlike Alex she loved the sea and wanted to be on deck all the time.

It was the night before they landed that Yarrow opened Alex's door, shut it, and left for the deck. She had been bothered about evolution ever since Rosemary brought it up. Now that it was dark out, Yarrow wanted to explore. It could help her decide whether she wanted to be an umbreon or not. Her mother had said that sometimes an eevee could just know what was right to evolve into if exposed to one element that compassed all their thought.

By the time Yarrow had gotten out to the deck she knew that she didn't have any particular love for the dark. She had hit her head twice, stubbed her foot five times, and nearly fallen over more times than she could count. It was boring and painful, not at all what Yarrow had thought being out at night would be like.

Lost in her thoughts Yarrow put her paw onto a floor that wasn't there and lost her balance. She hadn't thought she was anywhere near the edge of the ferry, which had railings high enough that an eevee could fall right through, but she must have been and with a thought of how stupid she was Yarrow fell over the edge.

Her cry of 'eevee' was still in her ears when she hit the water. It was cold and wet and salty when it got into her mouth and it knocked all the air out of Yarrow's lungs.

She swam back up to the surface and felt scared despite being able to breathe. She could swim well, but how long would she be here? Would they ever find her?

A wave crashed over Yarrow and she found she couldn't swim that well after all.

She was being dragged under, and no matter how hard she swam she couldn't get back up. The sea was treating her like a plaything and Yarrow wasn't sure whether she hated or feared it more. This was nothing like the times when she had played in the water with her mother. Why hadn't her mother told her there was water like this?

That was the last thought Yarrow had before she couldn't hold her breathe anymore and breathed in water. She remembered trying to cough the water out but it wasn't working and then everything went black, but Yarrow thought she felt something around the scruff of her neck before she was gone.

#####

Alex had been roughly shaken awake by Angel, the other girl in slacks and a sweatshirt.

"Come on. Get up to the deck."

Alex stared sleepily at her and buried her face in the pillow. She wasn't getting up now if they had found a shiny or even a legendary pokemon, or even Arcti stowed away on their ship.

"It's about Yarrow." Angel whispered urgently.

Alex didn't respond. She would deal with whatever Yarrow had done in the morning.

"She needs you. She's hurt."

It took Alex a few seconds to process that statement but when she did she pulled off the blankets to wrap around her, put on her glasses and followed Angel to the deck.

There was nothing there that she could see, except for Daemon beside a soggy bag of something, until she blinked an saw that the thing she had thought was a bag was Yarrow.

Alex didn't remember how she got to Yarrow and picked her up so quickly, and she didn't feel the cold wet water seeping through her blanket from Yarrow. She didn't hear Angel telling her Yarrow would be fine. She only felt one thing; Yarrow's very faint breath on her palm.


	13. Chapter 13

Yarrow woke up warm and wrapped in a soft blanket. She looked around, noticed she was right beside Alex, and flinched.

Alex would have been worried, all because she was stupid. Stupid and lucky, or else Daemon wouldn't sleep outside and wouldn't have heard her. He wouldn't have thought to wake up Angel or to get her to tie a rope to him. If she wasn't lucky, Daemon never would have found her, or found her too late. He wouldn't have known to hit where her lungs were so water would come spurting out of her mouth. If Yarrow hadn't been lucky, she wouldn't have coughed out all the extra water and passed out, she would have died.

Only one good thing had come out of the entire experience, and that was Daemon deciding he was going to be a vaporeon. Yarrow thought he was insane, but maybe she would feel differently if she had been the saver, not the one saved. Yarrow doubted that though; she didn't like the feeling of losing control and that was exactly what the sea did.

Yarrow knew she could cross off two evolutions from her list now. There was no way she was going to be a vaporeon after almost drowning, and she didn't feel comfortable about becoming a umbreon either. Technically the dark hadn't hurt her, but that had been the reason she fell, and Yarrow viewed it as a betrayal. Despite this, Yarrow felt stupid and mortal. She thought maybe she would just stay an eevee, and curled up to try and go back to sleep. Yarrow didn't really want to think about the night before any longer.

########

Alex left the ship with Yarrow in her arms the next afternoon. Pihs Island was nice and open, with tourist shops lining the street. She wasn't sure how much she liked the island given that all the people there seemed to dress like Angel and had shopping bags in their hands.

"C'mon, I'll show you the gym. The leader's brilliant, she's got these two Raichu who're called Ray and Rye, and they're the best. She's an electric type gym leader. Not all gym leaders stick to a type, but she does." Angel said admiration clear in her voice as she grabbed Alex and began to pull her towards the gym.

Alex could see it in the distance, a beautiful building coloured like the sunset and made out of curved shapes, looking more and more like it was out of a fairytale as Angel dragged her closer.

"She's the best trainer on the island and she's only seventeen. She was washed up on the shore here somehow…she's an orphan, and here we are. Isn't the gym beautiful?" Angel said, coming to a stop and smiling up at the building.

While Alex agreed with Angel she had to admit that the gym was making her feel uncomfortable more than anything. She had four months left to get a second badge, and didn't really want to think about the deadline.

"Angel Hope Rolias!" called a voice that sounded as though it was always annoyed. "Mother sent me out looking for you. Why weren't you on the ferry you were supposed to take?"

Now that the person drew closer Alex could see that it was a girl who looked around eighteen with dark blond hair, brown eyes and a light tan.

"Well?" she demanded of Angel, who looked even more rebellious than normal. "I won't ask why you came to the gym first, I expected that of you. But to go so far as to miss the ship you were supposed to be on, just to annoy us, Angel?"

"I didn't miss it on purpose." Angel muttered, and Alex saw her look truly annoyed for the first time.

"Really. You've lost your ability to plan anything then, haven't you? And who is this?" the woman asked saying 'this' as though it was a curse.

"Mother and Father said I could bring a friend, Valentine." Angel said, sounding as though she wanted to hit her.

"I suppose we're lucky you didn't bring some forty year old sailor with tattoos and call him your 'friend'." Valentine replied, glancing over at Alex for a second. "Follow me, or you'll make Mother even more worried."

Angel followed, grumbling to herself. Alex didn't try to hear what she was saying, since she knew her mentor and expected it involved curses and painful experiences. She busied herself wondering how Valentine and Angel both managed to make Mother and Father have an obvious capital letter.

They had only been walking for a short time when a woman swept in front of them and hugged Angel.

"My little girl's home! I was so worried something had happened to you." The woman who was apparently Angel's mother said. Her hair was as black as Angel's, and Alex could smell her perfume even from a foot away.

She let go and placed her hands on Angel's shoulders.

"Look how tall you've gotten. I don't believe it."

Alex could see Angel's eyes flashing, and knew that whatever came next wouldn't be good. She didn't know why Angel would be so angry when her mother only seemed to be happy to see her again; maybe she was just tired.

But Angel, unlike every other time she had been angry enough that her eyes almost seemed to glow, didn't snap. She only forced a smile and asked where the ride was.

Alex found herself quickly pulled onto a carriage pulled by two Rapidashs. Angel was the one who grabbed her, and as she did so, Angel whispered in her ear, "Don't say anything."

Alex spent the ride listening to Mrs. Rolias talk about where she had gotten her jewelry and how the house was apparently all fixed up, and that Angel's brother was home, and wouldn't that be nice?

Valentine participated in all of these discussions while Angel only said what was enough to ensure she was listening.

Alex patted Yarrow, and wondered why Angel was so upset and worried.

######

Angel's house was beautiful, and it was in the middle of the only woods the island had. The mansion was enormous and painted dark green mixed with purple and red. Gardens surrounded it fading into the background of the trees perfectly.

"Well my Angel?" Mrs. Rolias asked. "Don't you think the new paint and the expansion are wonderful?"

Angel bared her teeth in what could have been called a smile if you didn't know her.

"It's lovely Mother. May I show my guest her room?" Angel asked, and Alex stared at her. She had never heard Angel use words that were so formal.

"Oh of course. I think I've forgotten to ask her name, please excuse me." Mrs. Rolias said as she stepped out of the carriage.

"You're not excused, and her name's Alexandra Wood, as if you'd care." Angel whispered harshly. Alex was surprised that Angel even knew her full name and made no resistance when Angel pulled her out of the carriage and into the house.

It was just as beautiful on the inside as the outside. The walls were painted with scenes of pokemon and flowers. The floors were covered with detailed, bright coloured and soft carpets.

Alex didn't have time to see much of it before she went up a beautiful staircase, following Angel now instead of being dragged.

"My mother doesn't know or care where you're staying, so you can stay in one of my rooms. That way I can see you easier." Angel said, talking lowly and softly.

Alex nodded but felt shocked. She had known from seeing the house that Angel was certainly rich, but it hadn't sunk in until she mentioned her 'rooms'. Alex knew that only extremely rich people had more than one room. It was just so hard for Alex to picture Angel as rich.

The girl in question had opened a door and then another, and then another, and Alex followed through beautiful red and blue and green rooms to one that was a soft lavender and had only one door aside from the one they had come through.

"This is your room. That door goes to a bathroom. Feel free to do whatever you want with it." Angel said, then bit her lip. "You wouldn't mind if I left? I'd like to talk to my brother."

Alex shook her head and Angel shut the door and walked away.

#######

Alex loved the room, not in the least because it had a large soft bed which was probably the best she had ever slept in. The other good features included a carpet the seemed to be three inches deep and covered with a delicately pretty design, a large window that gave her a view of the forest, and enough room that she could let both Rosemary and Yarrow out and they felt comfortable.

After showering, and washing both Rosemary and Yarrow, Alex felt much cleaner and happier. She curled up on the bed for a short nap and was woken up ten minutes later by Angel.

"We've got eight minutes 'til supper. Put these on." Angel said once making sure Alex was awake. She dropped the clothes on the bed and shut the door.

Alex spent five minutes getting her clothes on. The shirt was green with a gold flower spread out across it, and had sleeves that went down just past Alex's elbows. The pants were white with lights green vines down the sides, and went down just past Alex's knees. They were so billowy that it seemed almost as though she was wearing a skirt. Alex thought they looked horribly expensive and tried to ask Angel where she got them as she walked out the door.

Angel cut her off.

"Good, you're dressed. No shoes, but it doesn't matter. Come on, we can't be late."

As Angel ran off and Alex followed, she noticed that Angel hadn't said 'C'mon' as she normally would have.


	14. Chapter 14

The dinner was extremely good, brought to them by servants, and lasted for about two and a half hours. Alex spent her time snacking on her favorite foods. She didn't talk, mostly because no one talked to her and Alex was far too shy to simply say something.

While eating quietly Alex watched Angel, looking for more signs of her difference now that she was staying with her family. They were easily spotted. Angel wore clothes that were so sharply designed Alex thought she could see a different world in them, and they were layered. Angel wore jewelry, delicate golden chains around her wrists and neck. Her smiles were open and wide, and looked very fake if Alex thought about them. It was her voice which startled Alex the most. Angel was good with her voice; she could sing song words back at Alex with a sickening sweet voice, or imbue a sentence with a subtle sarcasm. Now her voice was bland, and a bit higher than she normally spoke.

Alex wanted to go back to the pretty lavender room and stay there with Yarrow and Rosemary. She had began to wonder if anyone would notice if she left when Angel's father came in. He looked tired, and while Alex quickly saw that his eyes were the same colour as Angel's, she had never seen Angel's eyes look so blank. Everyone at the table, Mrs. Rolias, Valentine, and Angel, stood up to greet him.

Alex slipped out of her chair and out of the dining room while they were distracted. She went back to her room, making sure she didn't take one step wrong, when she heard a soft noise like a dog stepping on carpet and looked up to see a boy in a wheelchair. He smiled.

"Hello. You are Alex, right?" he asked, and Alex relaxed. Something in his voice reminded her of Yan.

"Yes." She confirmed softly.

"I'm Mono. It's nice to meet you." He said, smiling at her. He looked around fifteen, and had dark hair and soft brown eyes.

Alex nodded, more focused on his name. She had heard it before, somewhere, she knew. It had been when she went to find Angel to ask for training. It clicked; she had heard that name in reference to Angel's brother. Now that she looked, he and Angel had similar faces, and his hair was almost the same shade of black. She wondered why he was here and not at dinner like Angel and Valentine, but said nothing.

"Angel said you were quiet, but I thought you'd say something. You know she's my sister, right?" he asked, and Alex saw the bright spark of curiosity in his eyes.

Alex nodded again. She didn't feel as though she could speak.

"Could you do me a favor?" Mono asked, with enough of a wistful tone to pull at Alex's heart. "Could you let me see your pokemon?"

Alex didn't understand why he would want to, but she doubted he would be scared of Rosemary or dislike Yarrow, so she nodded again, and went to find them.

When she came back, he had gone but Angel was standing there, smiling. It wasn't her fake smile, it was the devil may care smile she had always used and Alex smiled back, used to it.

"You met Mono, huh? He's the only family I can stand. I'll show you his room." Angel said before walking away. Alex followed, Yarrow trotting at her feet.

#######

Mono's room had an underwater theme, and much of it was dark blue. While it was technically only one room, the room looked as though it took up half of the house, and was sectioned into smaller rooms by screens.

"Mono!" Angel called, with only the slightest hint of amusement in her voice. "You've left a guest waiting you know. You aren't supposed to do that."

Mono came out from behind a screen with two books and a plastic case on his lap. His wheelchair got over to them far faster than Alex thought it would.

"I know, I'm sorry Alex. Are these your pokemon?" he asked, reaching down to pat Yarrow, who had placed her front paws on his wheel to look up at him. "She's a sweetheart. Does your ekans mind being touched?"

Alex shook her head slightly, not wanting to dislodge Rosemary, but said, "No, but you have to ask her."

"It's good to see someone who cares about their pokemon. Would you mind if I touched you?" he said, addressing his last remark to Rosemary.

She slid down Alex's arm, and stretched out her body so that Mono could touch her for a few seconds or so, then went and curled back around Alex's neck again.

Mono laughed softly, and Alex wondered again why he wasn't at dinner table.

"Sit down." Mono said, and when they had both sat down on the soft floor, he laughed again. "I feel like you're my pupils now. Looking up to me for wisdom and knowledge."

"If you were so smart, you'd know that wisdom and knowledge are pretty much the same thing." Angel said, but her voice was teasing and kind.

"True. Now, Alex, do you know about pokeblocks?" he asked. Alex, somewhat scared of something she couldn't identify, shook her head.

An hour later, and Alex had an explanation for pokeblocks. They were items made for pokemon from berries, and they altered the pokemon's development. They were sometimes called things other than pokeblocks, but they were all basically the same. There were five ways to alter a pokemon: cute, smart, beautiful, tough, and cool. Alex had thought it wasn't right to force a pokemon to look they way humans thought it should look to be beautiful or anything else, and Mono agreed with her. He also said that pokeblocks were healthy for pokemon, and shouldn't hurt them as long as she let her pokemon choose what they wanted to eat. He proved this by letting both Yarrow and Rosemary select a pokeblock from the case he had with him, explaining that while pokeblocks could be made improperly, he was certain his never were.

Yarrow sniffed them all, and then gently picked up a deep purple one and began to eat it in small bites, but faster than normal. Rosemary picked a light brown one and gulped it down within seconds. Mono explained that pokeblocks were somewhat like candy for pokemon, and that they probably shouldn't be given more than one a day.

Alex nodded, and realized that she was tired. She waited while Yarrow finished her snack and Angel and Mono talked about ships. Apparently they knew a lot about them because they were still talking about the same thing when Alex excused herself quietly and left.

#####

Alex woke up early in the morning, and went out to explore the gardens. She brought Yarrow but not Rosemary, because Rosemary was still sleeping. Actually, everyone seemed to be sleeping, except for Yarrow and her. The garden was enchanting in the morning, with just a touch of light to see by. The dew glistened on flowers and bright green plants, and sometimes fell off when Yarrow brushed them in her rush to move ahead on the stone path they had been following.

Alex spotted Mrs. Rolias up ahead, and wondered if she would say anything to Alex when she passed, but she said nothing. As Alex thought about this, watching the woman cloaked in vivid fabrics leave, she realized that what Mrs. Rolias had done was ignore her, completely, as though she was a stone or plant.

Alex thought about that, and about Angel's fake smiles, and her sister's subtle insults, and about her brother who didn't go to dinner, and her father's eyes. She wondered if maybe Angel had a reason to be scared of going home after all.

When Alex got back to her room she found Angel there, sitting on her bed and looking sad.

"You keep secrets, Alex." She said softly, easily. "We should call you Alex Secretkeeper, you kept them so well."

Alex wasn't sure what to do besides close the door behind her. Angel didn't seem angry, only tired and sad. It was worse than her being angry, and Alex waited for her next words.

"When I was young, Valentine got an eevee. Not because she wanted to be a trainer, but because she wanted to have one. The government gave her one for free, since she was from our family. It died when she let it fall on the ground from our balcony. She put it up there and every time it got down, she'd put it back up. When it died, Valentine didn't care, and neither did Mother or Father. Mono and I did, because we were the ones who fed it and cared for it." Angel paused in her story. She wasn't crying, but she looked like she was far away.

Alex sat down on the bed beside her with Yarrow curled up in her lap. She wasn't sure how keeping secrets had gone to Angel's childhood, but she wouldn't interrupt. Alex never interrupted anyone.

"Mono wanted to become a trainer. He was in a wheelchair then, but he thought he could handle it. He could, but my parents" the words were hissed with a startling venom "couldn't."

"They talked to the TT, then the people in charge of the new trainers, and when he was thirteen they took his pokemon away and brought him back here. They caged him." Angel said, and Alex could her the fury in her voice. "And then they tried to stop me."

"But they couldn't find me." Angel said, her voice taking on a touch of pride. "I hide myself well, and Mono helped as much as he could. Before I came back here, I made them sign an agreement. A legal one. If they try and take Daemon away from me, I can sue them and get every bit of money they have. And in case they think of trying something not legal, I've threatened to tell a few high class families some secrets about ours."

Alex wasn't sure if Angel was bitter or pleased, but whispered, "You were very brave."

Angel smiled, and it was sad but real.

"Yeah, I'm brave. That's one thing I have."


	15. Chapter 15

Angel left after that, softly closing the door behind her.

Alex lied down on her bed and wondered. She didn't know why Angel had chosen to tell her that. She didn't know why she was there. And she still didn't know everything about Angel's family, nor did she really want to.

#######

The two months she was there, Alex didn't stay in the house very much despite its beauty. It made her feel small and useless, and Alex was always certain she would break something. Instead of staying inside she wandered around outside, in the forests with her lunch and sometimes supper as well in a basket. Her only protection was Yarrow and Rosemary, but almost all the pokemon there were grass pokemon, and would flee if Yarrow or Rosemary made any threatening moves. In general the grass pokemon were friendly and playful. They brought crowns and bracelets of flowers to Alex, and nuts or berries to Yarrow and Rosemary. To Alex, the forest was the best part of the trip, though sometimes Yarrow would have to drag her back because a threatening pokemon was coming through. Alex never ignored Yarrow and so her walks could become very random.

Alex knew that Yarrow occasionally visited Mono, and she suspected that Yarrow begged pokebocks from him given that her fur was far silkier than it had ever been. Rosemary stayed in her room whenever they were inside, and Alex found her curled up in a patch of sunlight on the windowsill more times than she could count.

They still trained, but only when Angel could free herself from her family, times which came rarer and rarer as the days went on.

It was during these two months that Alex's birthday came by. She told no one because she didn't think it was the same as her body's birthday, and spent the day in her room, homesick.

She learned the gym leader's name was Tali Ning after quietly asking Mono. Alex hadn't seen Angel with someone she admired, but given the dragging to the gym she thought Angel might be a slight bit obsessive.

The day that stood out most in her mind of those two months wasn't her battle with the gym leader, but the day she visited the ice caves. They were a natural landform on the island because the very tip of it was at the edge of a large and arctic cold water current. A few ice and water pokemon had decided to make the tip of the island a stopping point, and then a home. Humans had made a small opening into the cave where trainers were allowed to go and catch pokemon.

Angel had taken her, not to catch pokemon but to see them. Mostly what Alex saw were small little white seelors, cute and sweet and curious, reminding her of puppies. One even came close enough to touch her shoe, then skidded back again. Dewgongs leaped into the air, apparently showing off for each other. They splattered Alex and her pokemon with icy cold water when they jumped out despite their obvious grace. Angel said it was because they disliked humans, but Alex thought it was just because they liked to see humans flinch or scream.

In the water at the back of the icy cave, Alex saw a lapras, just for a second, before it passed into a different cave. It was elegant and Alex was certain it was female in the short time she saw it.

Alex could see the caves in the distance, and could feel a nature desire to explore, even though she'd have to get across the icy water to do it. She was distracted by the sun coming in from a crack in the top of the ice cave, turning the entire cave a bright, glittering white. The dewgong still jumped in the water, but it looked clearer than it had before, purer.

Alex wasn't sure how long the light lasted for, but she remembered staring and staring at everything, and when it faded, Angel taking her back.

Alex was certain she'd never forget it, though she might forget parts of her gym battle.

######

On her second last day staying with the Roliases, Alex had gone to the gym. She didn't tell anyone except for Yarrow and Rosemary.

When she opened the door and walked inside, Alex was surprised. It wasn't that the building wasn't as nice on the inside as the outside, it was that the building had desks everywhere, and every desks was piled with papers. There didn't seem to be anyone living around, so Alex walked up to a pile and picked up the first paper.

It was a typed explanation of why it was possible to get shocked by touching an electric pokemon's fur. The language used was very scientific, and Alex wasn't certain what any of the details were. She placed the paper back on the table, but it made a packet of papers fall to the floor with a soft thump.

Before Alex could reach down and put it back, a voice called out.

"Who's there?"

It was a young voice, but there was an edge to it that suggested it wasn't a child.

"Me. I mean, Alex. Alexandra Wood." Alex replied.

"Tali Ning, it's good to meet you. See the space over there, that isn't covered by desks? I'll meet you there."

Alex picked her way carefully to the only spot in the room that wasn't filled with something. It wasn't big, but it wasn't small, and Alex didn't have to wait long before a young woman came into view. She was the only person on the island Alex had seen wearing jeans and a T-shirt, and she managed to make it look nice. Her hair was a warm reddish brown, only a shade darker than Raichu fur, as shown by the Raichu perched on her shoulder. Her hands were on her hips.

"A trainer. Alex." She said thoughtfully, and Alex recognized that she wasn't supposed to respond. "Yes, I think Angel was in here babbling about you."

Alex winced, and hoped that Tali didn't mind her, or Angel.

"Angel's kind, though somewhat spoiled." Tali said, and Alex noticed that she pronounced Angel like Ane-joul.

"How many pokemon do you have?" Tali asked sharply. "Just those two?"

Alex nodded, not wanting to actually talk to Tali, who she found unnerving.

"Fine. That's a two on two battle then. The battle will be here, you'll give me no money if you lose, and I will be the judge." Tali declared.

Alex knew that someone else should be the judge, but Tali had the feeling of someone who believed in fairness, who could have been a good police officer. And beside that, Tali scared her a little bit, though Alex could see why Angel admired her.

"Okay." Alex said quietly, and Tali nodded sharply before throwing out a pokeball she pulled off of a belt at her waist, then caught it easily as it came back to her.

An electkid stood in the space between desks, sparking brightly.

Alex knew it wasn't as fast as some electric pokemon, and set Rosemary gently down on the floor. She moved out closer to the electakid, and Tali called out 'Begin', and then 'Spark'.

The battle with Rosemary and the electakid wasn't the most difficult Alex had had.

At first the electakid was too fast for Rosemary, and caught her with a few spark attacks, but Rosemary was good at aiming and hit it back with poison stings. Once electakid was poisoned, it started slowing down.

Rosemary's strong scales mostly protected her from the electric attacks while she moved in close to bite the electakid. Though she was paralyzed once, her shed skin kicked in, and Rosemary was cured with half a minute. She was cured at the perfect time to launch an attack, Alex gave her first order, 'Bite', and the electakid fainted.

Alex wasn't certain it could be that easy. Rosemary was bruised and tired, and Alex doubted she could win a second match, but it still seemed easy. How could a simple tactic that Alex had devised for Rosemary to use on fast targets work so well on a gym leaders pokemon?

She hadn't figured out the answer when Tali sent out her next pokemon, a pikachu.

It was faster than the electakid, and avoided all of Rosemary's poison sting attacks. This continued for a while until the pikachu got too close to Rosemary and Alex ordered her to bite. Rosemary bit the pikachu, and it shocked her enough to force her to let go. While she was still conscious, Alex didn't think she could fight, and used her pokeball to return her.

Yarrow waited for Alex's soft whisper to fight before she strolled out into the battlefield.

The pikachu and Yarrow were mostly evenly matched. Yarrow didn't dare bite the pokemon because she wasn't sure how many electric shocks she could take. The pikachu and her traded quick attacks and spark attacks, each boosted by their pokemon type.

It was a fast battle, the entire thing only taking five minutes of attacks. It was almost cartoonish the way one pokemon would be hit, and go flying, and then the other would be hit, and go flying. Alex only thought that until she realized Yarrow was limping and panting. The pikachu was worse, blood coming from its bite, seemingly not wanting to use one leg at all, and panting far heavier than Yarrow.

Yarrow won, partly because the pikachu was bleeding slightly, and partly because Yarrow had better endurance. This allowed Yarrow to hit the pikachu two times in a row, and it fainted.

Tali called it back, unbothered. She was sitting on a desk, and motioned for Alex to come over.

Alex did walk over to her, after stopping to pick Yarrow up and murmur praises.

"This is yours." Tali said, slipping a cool piece of metal into Alex's hand. "Good job."

Alex nodded, said thank you very quietly, and walked away confused. She didn't think it could possibly be that simple but it had been. She decided to stop thinking about it and go to a pokemon center.

The badge, a glittering white circle with bright yellow circles that grew smaller and smaller inside it, flashed as the sun shined down on it.


	16. Chapter 16

She asked Angel why the battle had been so easy for her when both Yarrow and Rosemary were in the pokemon center.

Angel didn't stop what she was doing, which was searching through any drawer she could find, to reply.

"It's because she can only use pokemon that are as good as your pokemon." Angel said, not really paying attention to Alex.

"But…her strategy should be better than mine." Alex said, still confused. She remembered the pokemon show vaguely, and had the idea that beating a gym leader couldn't be as easy as fighting a battle with any trainer.

"Alex, you've trained with me, and you trained hard. You still train, though not as hard, and you still make up strategies. Not everyone trains as hard as you, you know. And they still need to have some chance at passing, or else some of their families will whine. There are a few gym leaders who like to make a point in trying to teach kids something, and a few who just aren't very good at strategy, only power, but Tali isn't either. She just checks to make sure you're competent, and Alex, you're above competent." Angel explained, before pulling out a deep blue stone with a grin. It had what looked like bubbles under its surface and glowed with a weak but strange light.

"Good, I found it. I think Daemon wants it; he's been dragging stones to me and going in the water every chance he gets." Angel said before swinging around to Alex. "You are leaving in the morning, right? Early? I won't be up, so give me your phone number now."

Alex recited her phone number by looking at her little white phone, and Angel put it down in her phone's memory. Alex had to have a month to get back to land, and two weeks to get to Leaf-falling, where she would be registered in the 'second rounds' officially. Alex had given herself two weeks for any problems that could happen, and somewhat to search for Rina. She was only worried about Angel. Angel had been the one who asked her to stay, and now she was leaving. Angel didn't seem upset about it, but Alex still felt guilty. It took her a long time to get to sleep that night, and her dreams were strange, with Arcti as an angel who was trying to kill her, Angel as a demon laughing at her, Yarrow as a girl with a broken sword protecting her, and Rosemary a girl who was in foster care with her.

#######

Alex woke up in the morning to see only Yarrow sitting on the windowsill. She could only see Yarrow's outline since the sun had barely started to rise. She smiled, feeling safer suddenly, and closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, the sun was rising fully, and the rays had hit Yarrow, turning her from a light brown eevee to a white and blurry one.

Alex blinked and the glare was gone, along with the eevee. A calm espeon watched the sun rise, the light glinting off of purple fur. For a second Alex wondered where Yarrow had gone, certain that this strange almost legendary looking pokemon had just appeared on her windowsill by magic. Then she rubbed her eyes and her brain, dulled by sleep, began to work.

"Yarrow?" Alex whispered very softly, feeling dizzy and dreamy.

Her reply was a feeling of welcome with a hint of pride of a hard choice made. Alex knew it wasn't her own feeling, and that was strange enough to jolt her into wakefulness.

She sat up and stared at Yarrow, not quite daring to pat this creature who sat and watched the sun rise. It seemed as though it would ruin something important.

########

Yarrow hadn't planned on evolving. She had thought, tentatively, that being an espeon was her best option. She had seen grass pokemon being killed easily in the forest and had been terrified of being that weak, and going to the ice cave had not reminded her of happy days playing in the snow but of Alex frozen and the glaceon who said nothing. Still, Yarrow hadn't chosen anything for certain. She had been playing with the idea, wondering if it would work out okay.

Then Yarrow had sat to watch the sunrise, feeling warmer, calmer and stronger as more rays feel on her. She liked the steady unhurried feeling of warm and the thrill of the changes of the light in every second. She liked it enough to think about evolving, and then, seeing no reason why she shouldn't in the warm calm place she was, did so.

Now, she didn't feel upset either. She felt a deep tiredness, one that comes from staying up all night or running all days, but feeling completely content helped balance it.

Yarrow watched Alex get ready to leave while curled up on the bed, dozing. She would see Alex glance at her in wonder once every few minutes, and felt pleased.

When it came time to leave, Yarrow knew she couldn't walk. She sleepily let the idea flow into Alex's mind that she was tired, and needed to be carried. Yarrow closed her eyes and felt warm arms pick her up and cradle her gently. She was glad Alex was a good trainer; Yarrow wasn't sure she could talk to Alex again, even the slightest use of her new powers tiring her. Yarrow was warm, and Alex kept her from moving too much. She buried her nose away from the air, felt the pleasure of being evolved and right, and fell asleep.

#######

Alex adjusted to Yarrow's change the ferry they took to Sejao, a neat little town that was close to Leaf-falling. It was hard for her to see the little eevee she had spent so much time with as a espeon, and it didn't help that Yarrow's personality had changed somewhat as well. The best example of this was that she still woke up early but instead of waking Alex up as well, she sat quietly and watched the day grow brighter.

Her physical changes were surprising as well. Her light purple fur, her two tails, her red jewel, the deep purple eyes with a white pupil, were so very different from an eevee that Alex had to think for a second before recognizing her. She was bigger than an eevee as well, something Alex had noticed when carefully patting velvety purple fur for the first time.

The last thing that Alex had to get used to was Yarrow showing Alex her feelings whenever she decided to, and pens and papers floating in midair when Yarrow experimented with her new power.

Rosemary grew used to her faster, but by the time they left the boat, Alex was almost as used to Yarrow being an espeon as she was to Yarrow being an eevee.

Sometimes it was still a shock to Alex to hear Yarrow's thoughts in her mind, though she tried not to show it.

########

Alex waved goodbye to the ship which had brought her to Sejao, then walked through the streets often having to wait for someone to move while Yarrow easily threaded herself through the people.

She didn't stay in the town, choosing to get to Leaf-falling as soon as possible.

The trip there was not the best, but Alex managed to get through it, helped immensely by Yarrow, who gathered herbs as she walked. Her old habit of going ahead of Alex and then doubling back hadn't changed and it made Alex cheerfully happy, though not on the day she had forgotten to put the tarp up and it rained. By the time Alex had gotten to Leaf-falling, she had gotten sick of the simple scenery of grass and sometimes a tree.

Leaf-falling was very certainly a contrast to the simple land she had traveled through. The city would have been the biggest she had ever seen if Alex hadn't visited New York with her parents when she was eight. Her memories of New York were fuzzy but positive, and looking around at Leaf-falling she knew she liked it as well, even if she was lost and there seemed to be trees everywhere in the city. Alex didn't notice this until Yarrow pointed it out, but after that she couldn't stop noticing.

It two her an hour to find a pokemon center, and by then dark had fallen. Alex was thrilled, loving the feel of the night and the city lit by lamps, but Yarrow was keeping close to her side and told Alex she was nervous, so Alex was pleased when they found a pokemon center where they could stay the night.

Alex went upstairs after getting her room number, dropped her bag on the ground, and flopped on her bed. Rosemary made a small displeased noise as she slithered away for a more comfortable resting spot, but Yarrow jumped up beside Alex as she was putting her glasses on the floor.

Alex whispered an apology to Rosemary, and then turned on her back and stared at ceiling. She felt Yarrow curl up on her stomach before she fell asleep.

#######

The next day was useless in terms of information about Rina. Civilians stopped to admire Yarrow and ask to pat her. Alex would have told them no, but Yarrow seemed to enjoy the attention. Rosemary made hissing noises that sounded sarcastic whenever Yarrow was being patted and Alex found herself smiling. Yarrow didn't seem vain exactly, it was more as though she expected it and was tolerating it with a patient grace as though she was a queen.

They were also stopped by a few trainers who wanted to battle. Alex only won a quarter of her battles, but she still had some money to buy a hamburger and fries for lunch. Yarrow enjoyed the fries, though she refused the hamburger, and Rosemary wanted a hamburger for herself which Alex laughing bought.

Alex stopped by a museum of history, stayed there for two hours reading about the sea, and then watched a movie in the theater. It was about a love story of two pokemon trainers, and Alex found it extremely embarrassing so she asked Yarrow to translate Rosemary's comments and was amused for the rest of the movie by the witty lines Yarrow transferred to her. When the movie was over it was suppertime, and Alex ended up eating in a diner for trainers, so Yarrow got to eat fresh fruit and fish, and Rosemary had some sort of chicken. Alex stayed with salad, not certain what everything was.

They ate ice cream on they way home. Yarrow loved Napoleon as much as Alex did, but Rosemary preferred pure chocolate.

Alex knew she didn't get anything done that day, finding out where she was supposed to be for the 'second rounds', or finding out anything about Rina, or even make any money, but she didn't care. It felt like a vacation, a time when being in a world of pokemon only meant have loyal friends with you when you explored the city.

Alex wrapped in up in her memories that night, her practical side realizing it wouldn't happen again for a long time.


	17. Chapter 17

Yarrow was glad that Alex got up earlier, seeming refreshed from sleeping on a cot instead of the ground. She didn't mind watching the sunrise alone, but it was nice to have company. Rosemary never seemed to truly be awake until after noon, and besides that, Yarrow would prefer Alex's company to Rosemary's. Not because she disliked Rosemary, but because Rosemary would be likely to make sarcastic comments about the sunrise, while Alex would only watch it quietly.

Yarrow decided Alex getting up early wasn't such a great thing when Alex went to eat breakfast at the Pokemon Center. It was porridge, and it smelled awful. Yarrow had no idea why both Alex and Rosemary could eat it; she was certain that if she took a bite she'd throw it up.

Alex apologetically explained that she didn't have enough money to buy Yarrow breakfast, and so if she didn't want to eat porridge, she would have to wait until lunch to eat.

Yarrow sulked slightly, but was still not about to eat the icky gray porridge. She wished that she could be angry at Alex for not buying food for her, but she could easily sense that her trainer was telling the truth about not having enough money to go around buying food for her, and extremely sorry about it as well.

As Alex waited for the lady at the pokemon center desk to finish her telephone call, Yarrow sat by her feet.

"You'll have to become 'the best pokemon ever' if you want her to buy food that's just for you." Rosemary commented from behind her. The snide tone somewhat bothered Yarrow, who was still slightly upset about not having breakfast.

"Alex would buy me whatever I wanted to eat if she could afford it." Yarrow replied with a tone that suggested the conversation didn't need to go any further.

Rosemary ignored this.

"Yeah, 'cause she _loves_ you. You're her little special pokemon, the one who's happy to do anything she wants you to do." Rosemary said, ending with a scornful, hissing laugh.

Yarrow refused to reply to the comment, but mentally she sighed. It had been almost seven months from the day Alex had picked up Rosemary, and yet the ekans still refused to think of Alex as anything more than her trainer. Or at least, refused to admit she though of Alex as anything more than another trainer.

Yarrow glanced at the ekans again, noting that Rosemary's yellow eyes had closed as she rested her head on Alex's shoulder. Yarrow didn't understand why Rosemary couldn't think of Alex as a friend. The girl was sweet and shy, and not bad at battling. It was all a pokemon could ask for from a trainer, and Yarrow knew that. Of course, she had been raised knowing she would be the pokemon of a trainer, and Rosemary had once been a wild pokemon. Wild pokemon, Yarrow knew, tended to treat their trainers as the enemy until the trainer either beat it out of them, or gave up in disgust. The fact that Alex would never do that only made her weak in Rosemary's eyes.

Yarrow wasn't sure why Rosemary hadn't been as charmed as she was by their gentle trainer either. Despite the fact the trainers were generally viewed as the enemy by pokemon, it was impossible for Yarrow to look at Alex and not see the small, scared girl who had pleaded for her help. It was so clear that Alex wasn't the enemy; how could she be, when she so obviously needed to be protected from the world?

Yarrow hoped that Rosemary would see it, someday.

########

Alex smiled at the helpful office lady as she scribbled an address onto a scrap piece of paper. She had found the building she was supposed to visit to officially qualify for the second rounds. She hadn't made any progress on finding Rina, and wasn't quite sure how to find her. Rina hadn't mentioned her last name, and all Alex knew about her was that she apparently knew the other Alex somehow. It didn't help, but the idea of getting out into the second rounds and out of the deadline did.

Alex cheerfully traveled around the city, looking for the address she had been given. It was easy to find, as the streets were designed in a grid format, but by the time Alex had gotten there her feet were aching. She wasn't sure why, since she had been walking and camping for a few days before this, and it generally took longer for her feet to become sore.

Alex stopped in front of the building numbered 568, and tipped her head up to see the top of it. It seemed absurdly high, and almost entirely made of windows that reflected the light. Sleek and modern looking, the place looked like somewhere for important people in business suits to Alex.

The idea made her glance at her image in the mirrored doors and flinch. Her hair had grown out of whatever cut it had had, making it look more like a blanket thrown over her head than hair. Her clothes were the ones she had woken up in, a t-shirt with a flower and jeans, well worn and slightly too small for her body.

Yarrow, sitting at her feet and looking so utterly graceful and beautiful would normally have made it better, but at that time only made Alex feel worse. Yarrow was a mystic creature, Rosemary was a dangerous one, and she looked like a child that had been lent her older sister's pokemon for the day.

Alex stared at the doors for a few more seconds before turning to the side and walking away. Yarrow sent a faint questioning feeling to her, and Alex turned her head away so Yarrow wouldn't see her eyes tear up.

"It's nothing, Yarrow. I just…forgot something." Alex said slowly, her head still turned away. She knew Yarrow was probably worried, but she didn't know what to say to fix that.

The rest of the walk to the pokemon center was spent in silence.

#########

Rosemary watched Alex bury her face in a pillow and make small crying noises. She wasn't certain if she pitied the girl or hated her.

Rosemary knew that Yarrow thought she refused to see that Alex was a sweet and innocent girl. It wasn't true; Rosemary knew Alex was sweet and innocent, she just didn't care. After all, it didn't change her life. She had been destined to die, and Alex had changed the fate for a short time, but Rosemary wasn't about to love her for that. Alex was simply prolonging the inevitable.

The fact was, Alex was soft and not likely to change. Which meant that soon she'd lose the game of 'rounds' because she wasn't willing to make a hard choice to win. And when she lost, Rosemary would go back to her death sentence. That Yarrow pretended differently only made Rosemary annoyed.

Rosemary let out a slightly mocking hiss at the girl, who typically didn't notice and slid to a place where she could bask in the sun's rays.

#########

Alex stared at the pillow in her arms, wishing that she was different. She could see Rosemary curled up in a spot of sunlight and wished that she could feel as unconcerned about the future as Rosemary seemed to be.

She thought about calling Angel and asking for advice, or even calling Matt or Tom. Alex knew that Tom had been the only one to ask her to call him after the second rounds, but she had simply thrown Matt in with him because she wasn't sure Matt would remember her if she called. Still, the idea of calling, asking for help on what to wear into the second rounds building and how to act screamed pathetic to Alex. She remembered the gym leader who had given her a badge out of pity. She didn't want to be a sad little girl who needed to see her parents again for reassurance on what she was doing. She was never going to see her parents again, and she didn't need to.

Alex decided then that she was going back to the second rounds building in the morning. She couldn't be Angel or anyone else, but she didn't have to let her fear decide everything for her. She was sick of it.

########

Alex put on the too large coat made of dark purple velvet that morning, because it was chilly out, and because she liked it and it made her feel safer, even if it did look stupid over jeans. She ate breakfast quickly, and left a bowl of porridge in her room for Rosemary.

Yarrow jumped down to the ground to follow her, but Alex said she could stay if she wanted, and after some careful consideration, Yarrow leaped onto her bed and curled into a ball. Alex took that as a 'No, I don't want to go with you' and left.

It was strange walking through the city without either of her pokemon. Alex hadn't thought she had gotten so used to them, but it was unsettling to look around and not see Yarrow anywhere, and not have the heavy weight of Rosemary around her shoulders.

It was also strange how people looked at her differently, their eyes passing over her as though she was part of the scenery instead of following her. Apparently, she wasn't as interesting without her pokemon. The idea amused her, and Alex still had a slight smile on her lips when she came to the mirrored building numbered 568.

Alex hesitated at the front door, but refused to let herself leave. If she couldn't do this, she would have to go back to Yarrow and say why. Alex feared telling the pokemon that seemed to believe in her that she was a coward more than she did walking through the gleaming doors.

She took a quick shallow breath, and pushed the doors open.


	18. Chapter 18

Talia Rand hadn't had the best day. She had been late, her boss had yelled at her, and on top of that she had forgotten her coffee in the rush of the morning. She _needed_ her coffee.

So when she noticed the soft sound of breathing and the slight shadow cast on her computer, she wasn't inclined to be forgiving to whoever wanted to talk to her.

Talia looked up and her sharp words died in her throat. A young girl was looking at the ground, shifting from foot to foot, looking just a little too much like her own daughter to snap at. Talia's first thought was that she was lost.

Then the girl tipped her head up and met her eyes for about a second before quietly asking if this was the building where she could find the second rounds.

Talia nodded, and easy smile coming to her lips before she thought about it.

"Are you looking to meet some of trainers?" Talia asked. The girl seemed like she might be a fan of a certain trainer, as nervous as she was acting.

"No." she said softly, shaking her head. "I mean, it would be nice to meet them, but…I'm here so that I can enter into the second rounds."

Talia stared at the girl in the dark purple coat, feeling shocked. She hadn't looked older than nine or ten when Talia first glanced at her, but now that Talia looked closer she could see the slight curve to her body and the beginning of breasts that said the girl was just starting puberty, no matter how slight she looked.

"I'm Alex Wood." Alex offered after a few silent moments. Her voice wasn't anywhere near loud, but it shocked Talia out of the daze she was in.

"Right, of course, Alex. May I see your badges?" Talia asked, not because it was procedure but because she wanted to confirm with her own eyes that this child was a trainer. Alex just didn't fit the mental image she had of trainers, from her bed head down to her ratted sneakers.

Alex nodded, and reached into her coat pocket, wrapped her hand around something that glittered, and dropped two gym badges on the counter. Talia could see that one was from the gym of bird pokemon, and the other from the electric pokemon gym. Neither of the gym leaders were known to be harsh on new trainers, not like the fire or water pokemon gyms, but they weren't pushovers like the grass gym. They glittered brightly despite the fingerprints on them, and Talia wished for a second that she was a trainer.

A soft sound from Alex made Talia realize that she had been staring at the badges for longer than she thought she had. She gave the glittering pieces of metal a dirty glare for distracting her, and turned to Alex.

"Well, that's all in order then, isn't it?" Talia said cheerfully. "You can take those back."

The small hand that slid out to grab the gym badges moved much faster than Talia thought it would.

"Come back on March 31st and we'll have the official ceremony where you get your reward." Talia continued. "You might even see some of the trainers you've met in the building that day."

"Okay." Alex said, before taking half a step away and looking up at Talia. "Um, what do you mean by reward?"

Talia stared at Alex, this time in pure disbelief. Where had this kid grown up? How could she have possibly gone on a pokemon journey without knowing the most basic of things about it? Still, Talia knew it wasn't her place to question, only answer.

"For passing the first rounds, you get some money and an ultra pokeball." Talia said, stopping to try and control her voice before continuing. "For passing the seconds rounds, you get an evolution stone of your choice. For passing the third rounds, you get a rare pokemon of your choice. When you pass the fourth rounds, you're an official trainer."

"Okay." Alex replied shyly, slipping a hand into her coat pocket. "Thank you."

Talia watched the girl scurry out of the building, thinking, _What a strange child_.

########

The next eleven days passed in a blur of training, eating, and walking for Alex, Yarrow and Rosemary. Leaf-falling had many interesting places to visit, such as the Leaf-falling museum, the Whyti gallery, the Wishing Pool, the Zubat Towers, and more could be found simply walking the streets. Of course, walking the streets led to battling, which led to being hungry.

Yarrow tried to use her new psychic powers in battle, but since she didn't know any attacks she mostly only used it to push smaller pokemon off their attack course. Sometimes she tried to get into the opponent's pokemon's mind to predict its attacks, but while she could do that, it only worked for about half a minute at the beginning of ten days and a minute at the end, and every time she tried it she ended up exhausted for the rest of the day.

Alex found the new psychic powers both useful and annoying in battle. It was useful because she could come up with better battle plans (use sand attack, then sense where the pokemon is and attack it) but it was annoying because Yarrow was extremely curious about what she could do with it, and didn't seem to know when she had used too much power. Alex wasn't sure if it was good or bad that many better, older trainers began asking her to battle after they saw Yarrow. She never turned them down unless them seemed threatening, and she learned a few new tricks from the battles, but Alex didn't like the idea of calling attention to herself. However with Yarrow making a new decision to sit on her shoulder about half the time they were walking and Yarrow being an espeon, Alex doubted she was going to be able to avoid attention.

The easy pace of living in the city and crashing in her room at the pokemon center came to a stop on a warm, summer like day. Alex got up early, brushed her hair until she couldn't find any tangles, put on the clothes Angel had given to her, and set off to the building numbered 568 with Yarrow balancing on her shoulders and Rosemary in the pokeball clutched in her hands.

########

Alex frowned at her reflection in the glass doors. Though she had had a bath the night before, she didn't look quite clean, and her hair had been ruffled by the wind on her walk over. She wondered if it was possible to stop the wind as she pushed open the doors.

A blast of chatter hit her ears even before the doors closed. The room was filled with people from ages eleven to sixteen, all trying to get to a certain place. Alex took a few steps into the chaos and felt lost. Where was she supposed to go? Why hadn't she asked someone? At least she wasn't late.

_You should go to the elevator, then floor number two_, Yarrow informed her, using pictures of the elevator and the number as her words. She hadn't yet learned how to communicate in a language other than visual and emotional, and Alex was guiltily grateful for it. She didn't think she could handle it if Yarrow had just started suddenly talking in her head.

"Thanks Yarrow." Alex said quietly as she slid through the crowd to get to the elevator. Everyone there seemed to be wearing the best clothes they had, and Alex felt lucky she had decided to wear the best clothes she had, though she was worried she would stain them somehow.

When Alex got to the elevator, she was pressed inside it, almost touching the people beside her. A few people were chatting, but Alex only caught a few words of it, 'hot', 'best', 'no way', and 'please'. Alex was grateful to get off at the second floor.

The room was less crowded than the one below had been, though Alex wasn't sure why. It looked like an auditorium, except for the line of people in between the halves of the seats. A few people sat in the seats, and unlike the line these people weren't all in the age group of eleven to seventeen.

"Ma'am?" asked a young male voice, and Alex turned to see a clean cut looking boy in a black suit standing beside her.

"Ma'am?" he asked again, and Alex realized that he meant her. There was no one else around he could be asking, and he wasn't speaking loudly.

"Um, yes?" she said softly, still not completely certain he was talking to her though logic said he was. Illogic said she certainly wasn't a ma'am.

"I'm going to need your name please." The boy said seriously, pushing up the thick black glasses on his nose.

"Alex…Alex Wood." Alex replied.

"Trainer or guest?" he asked, putting a pen to the clipboard he was holding.

"Trainer." Alex said, wondering why there were guests. It wasn't as though anything interesting was going to happen, as far as she knew.

"Okay, just go stand at the end of the line there." The boy said after a few seconds of flipping through his papers.

Alex nodded slightly and walked over to the end of the line. She stood there quietly behind a boy with messy black hair, her hands fiddling with her silky green shirt. She wished she knew what was going to happen.

Suddenly, a man walked up onto the stage. He was bald, white, and old. A few steps behind him stood a handsome boy and pretty girl with boxes in their hands. Alex couldn't see what was in the boxes, but she could see that they weren't ordinary cardboard boxes.

"Alright!" the old man called out, giving Alex a start and making Yarrow leap to the safety of the non-moving ground. "Let's begin. Mary Redoundfield."


	19. Chapter 19

Alex watched as a petite girl with a blond pixie cut stepped out to the side of the line and walked up to the man on stage. She smiled, and he handed her something small and red. Then she took a few steps away to pick up a blue and red pokeball from the boy's box and something that Alex couldn't see clearly from the girl's box. Then she gave a little bow, and walked off the stage and out a door that Alex had just noticed.

The ritual was repeated, and Alex nervously found herself being one of the very last few people waiting to be called up. Most of the girl trainers wore skirts and jewelry. Alex envied them, wishing she had enough money for nice clothes or jewelry.

Then, when only one other trainer was left, a mousy boy who jumped at every noise, Alex's name was called.

Yarrow pressed her face against Alex's neck quickly, leaving Alex with the feeling of warmth and enough courage to walk up onto the stage. Her hands sweated and she kept her eyes to the ground. Why did there have to be people watching?

When she got to the old man, he gave her a red piece of paper covered in plastic. Alex read it quickly as she stepped slowly over to the boy and girl.

Pokemon Trainer Alex Wood

Rank: Novice

Badges: Bird, Electric

It was a new training card, and it trembled slightly in Alex's hand. She slid it into her left hand and reached out to grab a ball that she assumed was the ultra ball, and something that looked somewhat like a wallet from the girl. Then she quickly left the room, almost tripping over her feet a few footsteps from the door that opened into a hallway.

The hallway was empty of humans, narrow and the white paint was beginning to fall off of the walls. Alex didn't care.

She walked about two feet away from the door to the left, because the hallway ended in the right, and sat down on the brown coloured carpet. Her breathing was oddly heavy, and she wrapped her arms around her knees. Alex wasn't sure why she felt so relieved, or why it made her want to cry, but she knew she needed some time before she went back into the crazy mess of people.

She didn't even notice the boy who had been called last walk swiftly past her, too busy taking deep breaths. Alex had heard somewhere that was calming, and it seemed to be helping. Yarrow was pressed against her, sending strong feelings of calmness. In that moment Alex didn't think she could ever love Yarrow more.

After a few more minutes she calmed down enough to open the wallet like thing she had been given and found that her mental thought of it being like a wallet was accurate. Alex still didn't really know the money system, but even she could tell that the wallet had quite a bit of money inside of it.

"Looks like I can buy you breakfast now." Alex said lightly to Yarrow. She was thinking of buying Yarrow breakfast, but also longingly thinking of jewelry and skirts. Alex knew that she couldn't afford any jewelry that was made of precious metal and stone, but she was hoping she could get a steel ring, or a string bracelet from one of the stalls on the street. And maybe a few new clothes, new being a relative term because they were from the used clothing shop, and maybe a haircut, maybe new glasses.

Alex shoved that aside to think about later, closed the wallet, and stood up.

She walked down the hallway with one hand on the wall, stopping at every new noise she heard until she identified it as nothing uncommon. By the time she got to the door that opened to show the elevator only a few feet away, most of the people had left. Alex was very grateful for this as she made her way over the red carpet and into the elevator.

When Alex stepped out of the elevator on the ground floor, she was only given a few seconds to comprehend what she was looking at before she was hugged tightly.

"Alex!" Yan said, stepping back from her but leaving his hands on her shoulders. "I'm glad I managed to catch you."

"Yan? I didn't think……I didn't know you'd be here." Alex said happily, pleased at this unexpected meeting.

"No one explained it to you? Here, come outside with me." Yan said, letting go of her shoulders and grabbing her hand to tug her away.

Alex let him do it with a blush. She knew he didn't mean anything by it, but it was nice to be holding hands with Yan regardless. His hands felt rough against hers, and so could almost believe he was showing her how to set up camp again.

As they walked, Alex took the time to observe Yan. He had grown a little taller since she had last seen him, and his face had become more tanned, though he still had no freckles. He still wore his basic clothes; a dark green t-shirt and light brown pants. His brown hair wasn't as cleanly cut, or as well brushed. Alex thought it looked good on him, and tried not to think any further along those lines. She wasn't sure how red her face could get and didn't want to find out.

"Here we are." Yan said, sitting down at a metal picnic table not far from the trainer's rounds building. "Now, to catching up and explanations."

"Catching up?" Alex questioned. She knew the theory of the words; she had just never put them into practice. In her old life, she had never had anyone she needed to 'catch up' to.

"Yeah, for example…" Yan said, trailing off and grinning brightly. "That beautiful creature on your shoulders is Yarrow, right?"

Alex nodded, and felt more than saw Yarrow leap off her shoulders and land on the table.

"I'm impressed she's evolved so quickly. She must really love you." Yan said, and Alex could hear the slight awe in his voice.

"What do you mean?" Alex asked softly, only asking because she was certain Yan wouldn't mind.

"Well, you know…" Yan replied, trailing off when he saw her blank face. "I guess you don't know. Alright, first explanation time. There are different ways for eevees to evolve. The first will make your eevee evolve into a flareon, jolteon, or vaporeon, and your eevee uses a stone, fire, thunder, or water, to evolve. The second is for glaceon and leafeon. If you take them to a certain place and fight a few battles there, then they will evolve. And the last is for umbereon and espeon. If they love their trainer enough, they'll evolve. They have to really love their trainer. Die for their trainer kind of love."

"Oh." Alex said, taken back by the flood of information and the idea that Yarrow would die for her. The idea felt right, but Alex desperately hoped she'd never see proof of it. She wasn't sure what she would do if Yarrow died, and she didn't want to know.

"Yeah." Yan said, running a hand through his hair and managing to mess it up even more. "So…"

"You said you were going to explain why you were here?" Alex said, tilting her head to one side in a questioning manner.

"I did. It's pretty simple, really. New trainers start every half-year. And all trainers go to that building to enter into the next rounds, they just go to a different floor. So, since I'm a year ahead of you, I was there." Yan explained.

"If I came back here in exactly six months, I'd see trainers that are half a year younger than me on the floor I was on." Alex stated, seeing if she had gotten it correct.

"Yeah." Yan said, then smiled. He reached into his pocket and pulled something out of it, smiling brightly all the while.

"This is what they give you for passing the second rounds." Yan said, then lightly set a glowing green stone in front of Alex. "It's also why I wanted to see you."

Alex looked closer at the stone, liking the eerie glow it had. The middle of it seemed to have a captive lightning bolt, still sparking. Alex pressed her finger against it, but didn't feel any of the sparks she could see, only a surface as smooth as glass.

"It's beautiful." Alex whispered reverently. Yarrow poked it with her nose, then crouched a few inches away, watching it carefully.

"I can't tell. It's pretty cool looking, isn't it?"

"Mmmm." Alex replied, her eyes still on the stone. The light green colour was unique enough that she wanted to memorize it.

Yan chuckled, then spoke.

"I was going to let Sailor use it. I thought you might want to watch him evolve with me."

Yarrow made a startled sound. "Esp?"

Alex looked up from the stone and at Yan's face. He was smiling good naturedly, obviously pleased that he had managed to startle them.

"Sorry." Alex muttered, remembering the time she had spent staring at the Thunderstone.

"It's fine. You wanna watch?" Yan asked, as cheerful as ever.

Alex felt a swell of positive, excited emotions that she could tell weren't entirely her own and nodded before she could think.

"Right. I've got Sailor in my pocket, and that little clump of trees over there looks pretty deserted. What are we waiting for?"

Alex couldn't think of an answer, and so she followed him, though not as quickly as Yarrow did. As they walked into the first trees of the little forest, Alex wondered why Yarrow was so eager.


	20. Chapter 20

Yarrow couldn't stop herself from running forward, following Yan as closely as possible. She wanted so badly to see Sailor again.

It wasn't because she had a crush on him, like Alex so obviously had on Yan. It was because Sailor was really her first friend. Yarrow had gotten along well with the other eevees in the place she lived in before she was given to Alex, but she hadn't been particularly close to any of them. Unlike some other eevees, Yarrow hadn't wanted to make a best friend so that she had someone to talk to. Her mother was always happy to talk to her, and always gave good advice. Yarrow thought most mothers would, but for some reason unknown to Yarrow most young eevee were embarrassed about talking to their mothers.

Alex was a friend…in a way. But it was hard to be friends with someone you couldn't talk to, or at least someone you couldn't talk to and know that they understood. Yarrow hadn't met Rosemary until after she met Sailor, and besides that, as much as she liked the sarcastic ekans, sometimes she really wanted to tackle her.

Sailor was kind, playful, and he always played fair. Yarrow supposed that the real reason she wanted so much to see him again was that she was tired of never getting a break. She couldn't depend on Alex, because she had to protect Alex, and Rosemary was probably dependable, but she never acted as though she was. Sailor, however, had always been dependable. He didn't lie and he say anything that made her uneasy because she couldn't figure out what he meant. She and Sailor had even been a sort of a team for a while. They both liked to explore, but neither of them really liked leaving their trainers' sight, so one of them would always stay with Yan and Alex while the other went exploring ahead.

And, of course, she was happy to see Sailor because he was going to evolve. Yarrow wasn't worried about it; Sailor had known he wanted to be a Jolteon when she last saw him and he seemed extremely certain of it. She wanted to be there when he found himself evolved because she knew how happy he'd be that he was a Jolteon. The other reason she wanted to be there was because she had never seen a pokemon evolve before and wondered how it would look.

Alex and Yan had gotten over to the small patch of trees beside the grassy field they were walking over and Yan brought out a pokeball. Yarrow felt so excited she could jump, but unlike when she was an eevee and she would've jumped, she instead sat and waited patiently for Yan to open the pokeball.

It only took a second, and then Sailor was out.

Yarrow noted that he looked almost exactly the same, brown and white, his fur a little fluffier than eevees normally had, aside from a new scar on his left front leg. Despite wanting to greet him, Yarrow stayed perfectly still except for a few waves of her tail. She listened to Sailor's chatter and felt deeply fond of her old friend.

"Hi Yan! Thanks for letting me out! Who's that? Is she your girlfriend? What's her name? What's her pokemon's name? Hey wait, is that Alex? It looks like Alex, but her hair wasn't that long before - and that means, you have to be...Yarrow." Sailor said, his voice slowing down at the end of the sentence.

Sailor walked over to Yarrow, and while it might have been fast for another eevee, it was slow for him. Yarrow wondered why he was acting so strangely as she heard Yan say to Alex overhead, "Looks like they want to talk a bit." Perhaps Sailor was embarrassed he hadn't recongnized her? But Sailor never seemed to be embarrassed by anything before.

"Hi Yarrow." Sailor said quietly when he was about a foot away from her. He looked smaller than Yarrow remembered, and she thought that was probably because she had evolved.

"Hello Sailor. It's good to see you again." Yarrow said, curling her tail around her feet.

"Yeah it's...good to see you too." Sailor replied, sounding a bit more like his old self, but not much.

Before Yarrow could reply, Yan called Sailor's name and Sailor obediently went over to his trainer.

Yan crouched down and smiled at Sailor.

"Alright, Sailor, I'm pretty sure you want this." Yan said, stretching out a hand and opening it to reveal the faintly glowing green stone Yarrow had seen before.

For a few seconds nothing happened, though Yarrow could tell by the position of his ears that Sailor was nervous. Then he moved just close enough to the stone to touch it with his nose. Both Sailor and the stone began to glow a bright white, and then the white shape began to shift, growing bigger and spikier. When the light faded away, a bright yellow cheerful Jolteon and a clear stone were left.

Then the Jolteon ran. He almost seemed to fly across the field, leaving sparks of eletricity to mark his path. Over Yan's laughter and Alex's quiet giggles, Yarrow could hear Sailor yelling something about how running was great. She waited patiently for him to come back, then, after a minute, a little less patiently. He did come back quickly enough, exhausted from using his new powers too much. Even though he panted whem he paused for breath, Sailor still managed to talk about how awesome it was.

Yarrow stood up, walked over to him, and lightly brushed her side against his, ignoring the few slight shocks that she got from it. She was glad to have her friend back again.

###########

Alex was happy to hear that Yan planned to stay in Leaf-falling for a little while to buy some items he wanted. She didn't want him to leave right away. She would miss having someone she truly considered a friend, and Yarrow would miss playing with Sailor. She was glad to see that the two pokemon were still friends. Also, Alex could use a guide around the city, and Yan seemed to know everything about everywhere.

When she woke up in the Pokecenter the next morning, Alex kept her promise and bought Yarrow fresh fruit for breakfast, and herself too, since she didn't particulary like the porridge either.

She went to meet Yan at their agreed meeting point, a building made of clear blue glass called Waterfalls, and turned down the two battle offers she got on the way. Yan stood outside the building with Sailor beside him, somehow managing to look both cool and friendly at the same time, and when he saw Alex he waved.

Alex shyly waved back, but didn't walk any faster. Yarrow, on the other hand, leapt down from her shoulder and gracefully ran over to greet Sailor. Alex got there a few seconds later, and was cheerfully greeted by Yan. As Yarrow and Sailor played a game that seemed to be very close to tag, Yan and Alex talked.

"So, what did you want to ask me about?" Yan asked.

"I just wanted to know...where a cheap hair dresser and used clothing store would be." Alex said quietly, looking down at her feet. "And maybe some general information after that."

"Well, that should be easy enough." Yan said, giving Alex a smile bright enough to make her blush. "Just follow me."

Alex did, and found herself with some new clothing within a few hours. A pair of goggles had been added to her list of things she needed by Yan who said they were a must if you wanted to get through a desert. Her haircut was quick and easy; all Alex wanted was for it to be cut back to shoulder length and layered. She spent the rest of the day walking around with Yan while he searched for cheap supplies. It made her feet hurt horribly, but she was happy to be with Yan and ignored it. They stopped after a late lunch and Alex decided that it was probably best to ask her questions now, when both Yarrow and Sailor had gotten tired of running around.

"Yan?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah?" he said, turning to her and looking curious. She wondered if he liked her in particular of if he was just happy all the time because it was his nature.

"Could you help me decide where to go next?" Alex said. It hurt her to ask; she wished she could just stay here in Leaf-falling for a while and then travel where she wanted, maybe with Yan. But she had only passed the first rounds so she had three years left of travelling to gyms.

"What do you mean?" Yan said.

"I mean, I don't know where all the gyms are." Alex said, feeling ashamed of her ignorance. She knew it was uncommon.

"Really?" Yan asked, his voice disbelieving. Alex knew that she had again admitted she didn't know a basic fact that all trainers were supposed to know. She didn't want Yan to think she was stupid or lying, but she didn't know how to explain why she didn't know either. Alex trusted him enough to tell him about the way she was reborn, but she was certain he would think she was insane. Alex thought quickly, desperate for some reason that she wouldn't know something that was common knowledge.


End file.
